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Background  Foodborne toxoplasmosis in humans can be due to the exposure to tissue cysts of  Toxoplasma gondii  through the consumption of meat, including pork, of infected animals. Traditional Romanian food habits include pork as the preferred meat, while backyard pig rearing remains a common practice in many rural areas of Romania. The aims of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of  T. gondii  infection in naturally infected backyard pigs slaughtered for familial consumption and to genetically characterize the  T. gondii  strains obtained.    Methods  Paired blood and heart samples were collected from 94 backyard pigs, home slaughtered for private consumption. Serum samples were analyzed using the immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) for anti- T. gondii  antibody detection. Heart samples were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the 529-bp repeat region (REP529) for  T. gondii  detection. In addition, heart samples from IFAT positive animals were bioassayed in mice. The  T. gondii  isolates were genotyped by the analysis of 15 microsatellite markers.    Results  The results showed that almost half of the pigs investigated were  T. gondii  seropositive (46.8%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 36.4–57.4%) and in more than a quarter of the pigs (26.6%, 95% CI: 18.0–36.7%), the parasite was detected by PCR. Three (3/44)  T. gondii  strains were isolated from hearts of seropositive pigs and they all belonged to genotype II.    Conclusions  The present study showed the presence of  T. gondii  infection in backyard pigs in Romania, which suggests that consumption of pork from animals reared and slaughtered at home may pose a potential threat to human health and should be given attention. In addition, to our knowledge, this is the first study to provide data concerning  T. gondii  strains circulating in pigs from Romania.

Prevalence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii in naturally infected backyard pigs intended for familial consumption in Romania