T J Trop Med Parasitol. 2018;41(1):8-14. RESEARCH Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii from stray cats residing in temples, Bangkok, Thailand Chanya Kengradomkij 1 , Ketsarin Kamyingkird 1 , Nongnuch Pinyopanuwat 1 , Wissanuwat Chimnoi 1 , Sathaporn Jittapalapong 1 , Tawin Inpankaew 1* 1 Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand 10900 ABSTRACT oxoplasma gondii are zoonotic protozoa that cause serious problems in both of human and animals. This organism infects human population worldwide and is a threat to pregnant women and their fetuses. T. gondii may infect many species of animals, especially cats as the definitive host. In Thailand, the stray cats are often living in close proximity to humans. The objectives of this study are to detect antibodies against T. gondii infection in stray cats living in the temples in Bangkok by using the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and to identify risk factors associated with such T. gondii infection. The sera of 458 stray cats were collected from temples in 19 districts of Bangkok between June and December 2015 and tested by IFAT. An overall positive to T. gondii were 9.0% (41/458). Moreover, Bangkok Noi District had the highest prevalence of 50%. The highest rate of infection was observed in stray cats aged more than 5 years old at 17.9% (7/39) while the infection rates of cats between 1-5 years old and younger than 1 year old were 10.1% (32/318) and 2.0% (2/101), respectively. The seroprevalence in male 9.3% (18/193) is higher than that in female 8.7% (23/265). However, there was no significant difference regarding sex of the stray cats. The result of this study showed that stray cats infected with T. gondii may be an important potential source of human and animal toxoplasmosis, predominantly when they are free-roaming and may themselves be exposed to T. gondii parasites in their respective habitats. Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, stray cats, temple, Thailand *Correspondence to: Tawin Inpankaew, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900. Thailand Tel & Fax: 662-942-8438; E-mail: fvettwi@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that infects a wide variety of animals including humans (Edelhofer and Prossinger, 2010). Toxoplasmosis is an important zoonosis which causes serious disease worldwide (Salant et al., 2010). T. gondii, infects human population and can lead to lymphadenitis, encephalitis and retinochroiditis (Jung et al., 2015), particularly being a threat to pregnant women and their fetuses (Edelhofer and Prossinger 2010). Humans contracts T. gondii infection by ingestion of tissue cysts in raw or undercooked meat of infected animals, or ingesting food or water contaminated with oocysts from feces of infected cat, the definitive host (Jung et al., 2015). Diagnosis of T. gondii infection in cats is based on detection of oocysts in feces by microscopy, bioassay, serology or PCR. Nevertheless, definitive diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in cats is difficult to establish (Györke et al., 2011). Infected cats only spread 8 THE JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND PARASITOLOGY Vol. 41 (No. 1-2) June-December 2018