الفهرس 
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Abstract
In order to evaluate the importance of meat products in toxoplasmosis epidemiology, T. gondii presence was investigated in 100 samples of frozen beef products (50) and frozen chicken meat products (50). Samples under investigation included frozen minced meat, frozen sausage, frozen chicken burger and frozen chicken kofta (25 of each). The collected samples were analyzed by microscopic examination, bioassay in mice and DNA amplifications by PCR.
Through the microscopical examination, 16 out of the 100 examined samples (16%) were found positive for T. gondii tissue cysts. Out of the studied 25 frozen minced meat, 25 frozen sausages, 25 frozen chicken burger and 25 chicken kofta, 32, 4, 4 and 24% were found contaminated with T. gondii tissue cysts, respectively, as demonstrated microscopically.
By using PCR, T. gondii DNA was detected at rates of 30, 16.67, 20 and 6.25% of the examined 20 frozen minced meat, 6 frozen sausage, 5 frozen chicken burger and 16 frozen chicken kofta, respectively, with an overall incidence of 19.15% (9 out of 47).
T. gondii was detected in 2 samples (33.33%) of the tested 6 frozen minced meat samples by bioassay in mice. These results indicate that frozen meat products may play a role in the transmission of toxoplasmosis to humans in Egypt. Zoonotic importance of the disease as well as preventive measures to reduce the risk of Toxoplasma transmission to humans were discussed.