ABSTRACT
Toxoplasmosis in wild carnivores is clinically and epidemiologically important because clinical toxoplasmosis in some of these hosts simulates rabies. Wild canids are also susceptible to the canine distemper virus (CDV) infection, which is immunosuppressive in these hosts, as it is in the domestic dog (see Chapter 7). T. gondii infection in some of these hosts (e.g., raccoons) is ecologically important because raccoons can act as sentinel hosts for T. gondii infection. Raccoons eat almost anything including garbage, soil, and plants, and thus they are good indicators of T. gondii infection in the environment. Therefore, I have attempted to summarize seroprevalence, isolation of T. gondii from their tissues, and available clinical reports.
