BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. One Health
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1657510
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Zoonotic Diseases: Understanding and Mitigating Risks at Animal-Human InterfacesView all 14 articles
Guinea pigs raised as livestock are incidental host of Toxoplasma gondii and Influenza A in Ecuador
Provisionally accepted
Mauricio Salas Rueda1Patricia Peralta Ortiz1Jairo Guma Tipas1Katherina Chavez-Toledo2Monica Espadero1Pedro Webster1Juan Masache1Karla Illescas1Fabiola Yungazaca1Angel Sebastian Rodriguez Pazmino3Fabricio Arcos Alcivar4Solon Alberto Orlando5
Miguel Angel Garcia Bereguiain6*- 1Universidad Politecnica Salesiana, Cuenca, Ecuador
- 2Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador
- 3Universidad de Las Americas, Quito, Ecuador
- 4Universidad Ecotec, Guayaquil, Ecuador
- 5Instituto Nacional de Investigacion en Salud Publica - Quito, Quito, Ecuador
- 6University of the Americas, Quito, Ecuador
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The guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) is commonly used as a laboratory model or kept as a pet in many Western countries; however, in Andean countries like Ecuador, it is raised as livestock. Despite its importance to rural local economies, specific management guidelines for guinea pig farming have not been enforced by animal or public health authorities. Several reports indicate that guinea pigs raised as livestock serve as incidental host for respiratory and enteric pathogens, including Toxoplasma gondii. This study analysed the seroprevalence of antibodies against several pathogens relevant to public health and animal production in Ecuador: Influenza A, Brucella spp., Coxiella burnetii, Toxoplasma gondii, and Neospora caninum. Blood samples from 240 guinea pigs were collected in the cantons of Cuenca, Paute, and Gualaceo, in the Azuay province of Ecuador. Seropositive animals were detected for two pathogens—Influenza A and T. gondii—with prevalence rates of 1.67% (95% CI: 0.46–4.21) and 16.25% (95% CI: 11.82–21.54), respectively. There were not seropositive animals for Brucella spp., Coxiella burnetii and Neospora caninum. These results underscore the potential role of guinea pigs as incidental host for Influenza A and support their inclusion in surveillance programs for panzootic flu outbreaks. Additionally, guinea pigs may play a significant role in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis in the Andean regions of Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia, where similar findings have been reported.
Keywords: zoonosis, Guinea Pigs, Toxoplasma gondii, Influenza A, Ecuador
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Salas Rueda, Peralta Ortiz, Guma Tipas, Chavez-Toledo, Espadero, Webster, Masache, Illescas, Yungazaca, Rodriguez Pazmino, Arcos Alcivar, Orlando and Garcia Bereguiain. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Miguel Angel Garcia Bereguiain, magbereguiain@gmail.com
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