PONE-D-23-07690Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Galapagos birds: inference of risk factors associated with dietPLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

I received reviews from two experts in the study of T. gondii. Both reviewers recommended that the manuscript should be accepted. I am therefore happy to inform you that your manuscript can be published after minor edits suggested by the reviewers. Please provide responses to the issues raised by reviewer #1.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: N/A

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: The authors sought to find the prevalence of T. gondii in the Galapagos birds and how the feeding behaviour of the birds influences their exposure to T. gondii infection. They found that occassionally carnivorous birds had the highest exposure to the parasite, followed by the granivore-insectivores and lastly the piscivores.

The author's sampled an appreciable number of birds to make a good inference.

I am not an expert in statistics, but I could understand the authors' analysis of the data.

I have no major correction to make on this paper.

Minor Comments

1. LIne 117 & Line 139-140 Is there a significance to the different storage conditions for the land birds and sea birds i.e. -80 and -20 degrees celcius respectively

2. Line 137-138; the authors' mentioned recording the physical conditions, age and sex of the seabirds. However, this information was not used in any analysis.

3. Line 255: Authors' should kindly reconstruct the sentence to provide more clarity.

Reviewer #2: This is unique study of T. gondii prevalence in birds from 2 areas with or without cats. The serologic test used is the most specific tests for T. gondii infection in cats. The results ae of great scientific interest. The authors should consider replacing toxoplasmosis (clinical) with T. gondii infection.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Jitender P Dubey

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Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Galapagos birds: inference of risk factors associated with diet

PONE-D-23-07690R1

Dear Dr. Mosquera,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Christopher Adenyo, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: