Background: The present study was conducted to investigate the serological survey ofToxoplasmaantibodies in local.horses from three major regions: a neighbourhood of a city in the North (Sidi Thabet), a neighbourhood of a city on the coast (Monastir) and a neighbourhood of a city in the middle (Battan) of Tunisia (North of Africa).Methods: A total of 158 serum samples were obtained from clinically healthy horses which consisted of 111 (32 female, 79 male) 2-10 years old and 47 (11 female, 36 male) older than 10 years. All of the horses were tested for antibodies toT. gondiiusing the Modified Agglutination Test (MAT).Results: According to MAT results, antibodies toT. gondiiwere found in 28 (17.7%) of 158 sera with the titers of 1:20 in 20 horses, 1:40 in 1 horse, 1:80 in 2 horses, 1:160 in 2 horses, 1:320 in 1 horse and ≥1:640 in 2 horses. Anti-T. gondiiantibodies were found in 18 (16.2%) of 111 horses (2-10 years old) and 10 (21.2%) of 47 horses (older than 10 years old). Six (13.9%) out of 43 female had anti-toxoplasma antibodies and 22 (19.1%) from 115 males remained positive.Conclusion: Statistically significant differences in age groups and genders were observed between the seropositive and seronegative horses using the Chi square X(2) test. Other statistical correlation was also reported concerning horse breed.

The zoonotic potential of Cryptosporidium parvum was studied in an extensive cattle farming region of northern Tunisia. Seventy fecal samples from pre-weaning calves and 403 fecal samples from children were examined by microscopy after modified Ziehl–Neelsen (MZN) staining. Positive Cryptosporidium specimens were identified at a species level using an 18S rRNA nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by an Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. C. parvum isolates were subgenotyped by sequence analysis of the glycoprotein 60 (gp60) gene. Among calf samples, 14 samples were positive by MZN method. C. parvum was identified in all cases. Twelve parvum isolates (85.7%) belonged to family subtype IIa. Subtype IIaA15G2R1 was more prevalent (50%). Two C. parvum isolates corresponded to the IIdA16G1 subtype. Seven human samples were positive by MZN method. C. parvum and C. meleagridis were identified in four and three cases, respectively. Intraspecific characterization of C. parvum identified two subtypes, the IIaA15G2R1 and the IIdA16G1, also found in calves.