The number of positive samples for the different rearing conditions and by the different cuts of meat are reported in Supplementary Tables 1 and 2, respectively. genotyped using PCR-RFLP targeting 10 markers. Meat juice was screened for antibodies using a commercial ELISA or modified agglutination assay. DNA was detected in 0/39 (0%) beef samples, 1/21 (4.8%) chicken samples, 6/87 (6.9%) lamb samples, 3/71 (4.2%) pork samples and 29/82 (35.4%; Sampling Period 1) and 19/67 (28.4%; Sampling Period 2) venison samples. Partial PCR-RFLP genotyping revealed PRIMA-1 both clonal and non-clonal genotypes. Antibodies to were detected in the meat juice of 2/38 (5.3%) beef samples, 3/21 (14.3%) chicken samples, 14/85 (16.5%) lamb samples, 2/68 (2.9%) pork samples and 11/78 (14.1%; Sampling Period 1) and 8/50 (16%; Sampling Period 2) venison samples. This is the first study to report the presence of in retail meat products in Scotland and has highlighted venison as a potentially high risk meat. Further work is required to determine viability of parasites in this particular meat product. is a zoonotic parasite of global importance. Humans can become infected with the parasite via ingestion of oocysts (shed in cat faeces) directly from Mouse monoclonal to HSP70 PRIMA-1 the soil or in contaminated food or water; via ingestion of tissue cysts in undercooked/raw infected meat; or vertically from mother to baby during a primary infection in pregnancy. Symptoms of toxoplasmosis in immune competent people are mostly mild and self-limiting; however, immune compromised people can suffer severe or life-threatening disease and acute infection during pregnancy may result in miscarriage or devastating congenital defects (Dubey, 2010). In the UK, an average of 365 cases of toxoplasmosis are clinically diagnosed in England and Wales each year and an average of 33 cases are clinically diagnosed annually in Scotland (Halsby et al., 2014; HPS, 2018). However, given the lack of pathognomonic signs in the majority of infections and the fact that the disease is not notifiable, these figures are likely to be an underestimate of the true incidence of toxoplasmosis. In a recent PRIMA-1 study of over 1400 blood donors PRIMA-1 in Scotland, 13.2% had antibodies to (Burrells et al., 2016)In the same study, DNA was also detected in 17.9% of brain tissue deposited at the Medical Research Council Sudden Death Brain Bank. In both study groups, prevalence of increased with PRIMA-1 age suggesting an important role for acquired infection. Foodborne transmission of is an important route of infection and consumption of undercooked/raw meat is known to be a significant risk factor (Belluco et al., 2018). Due to the severe sequealae of infection which may persist for the lifetime of the host, the disease burden of toxoplasmosis can be high (Scallan et al., 2015). Recent studies in the USA and the Netherlands ranked as the second and third highest cause of disease burden among the major foodborne pathogens, respectively (Scallan et al., 2015; EFSA, 2018). Despite bodies such as the Food Standards Agency and European Food Safety Authority highlighting the need for identifying the role of different meat products in foodborne toxoplasmosis, there have been few studies examining the presence of in commercial meat products (Warnekulasuriya et al., 1998, Dubey et al., 2005). The aim of the present work, therefore, was to investigate the presence of in different meat products available for human consumption from retail outlets in Scotland. 2.?Materials and methods 2.1. Sample collection Convenience meat samples were collected over two periods. Initially, 300 meat samples (39 beef, 21 chicken, 87 lamb, 71 pork and 82 venison) were purchased from different retail outlets between April and November 2017 (Sampling Period 1; Table 1). Of the 300 samples, 31 were purchased from butchers’ shops, 163 were purchased from farmers’ markets or farm shops, and 106 were purchased from supermarkets. All samples were purchased fresh (not frozen) and were pre-packaged except those purchased at butcher shops which were packaged upon purchase. Different cuts of meat were purchased for each meat type on a convenience basis (Table 1). The rearing conditions of the animals was not always available but where it was: 22 out of 39 beef samples were from pasture-reared animals, 10 out of 21 chicken samples were from outdoor-reared animals, 20 out of 71 pork samples were from outdoor-reared animals and all lamb samples were from animals reared in the UK so were assumed to be outdoor-reared (Supplementary Table 1). Of the 82 venison samples, 46 were known to be.