Toxoplasma gondii antibody profile in HIV-1-infected and uninfected pregnant women and the impact on congenital toxoplasmosis diagnosis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Congenital toxoplasmosis resulting reactivation of infection during pregnancy in the studied group leads us to believe that it is a public health problem, especially in our population, in which seroprevalence of T. gondii infections is high. These findings also suggest that special attention is necessary during pregnancy, because the serologic diagnosis may not be indicative of toxoplasmosis reactivation.

Socio-demographic and Obstetric Variations of T. gondii and HIV-1 Co-infection among Pregnant Women in Cameroon

“…In this study, no significant difference was seen between seropositivity of T. gondii in HIV positive 31(44.3%) and negative 108(20.1%) women similar to studies in other countries [4,14,24]. The high prevalence in this group is as a result of decreased immunity which leads to reactivation of latent infection/tissue toxoplasmosis in HIV positive women [9,30].…”

“…In this study we recorded a prevalence of 5.1% co-infection rates lower than the 12-25% range in other studies [5,12] but higher compared to the 2.1% reported by Fernandes et al [14]. HIV and T. gondii co-infection rate are common in pregnant women because both pregnancy and HIV weakens the immune system that favors T. gondii and other opportunistic infection to occur [11,12].…”

“…This study is one of the few studies carried out in Cameroon to explore the seroprevalence of T. gondii and HIV co-infection among pregnant women in Bamenda Health District. Despite the low HIV prevalence (4.3%) in Cameroon in 2016 [22], the prevalence of HIV (11.6%) among pregnant women was high compared to the 0.5-10.3% range reported in other countries of the world [14,17,23] and from other towns in Cameroon [20,21]. However, it was quite low compared to the 61.6% reported by Simpore et al [11] in a study carried out in Burkina Faso.…”

“…Reactivation of latent T. gondii infection causes severe and fatal neonatal complications such as stillbirth or abortion, anemia, petechiae due to thrombocytopenia, seizures, neurological defect (epilepsy), ocular disease (blindness, chorioretinitis, strabismus, retinochoroiditis) microcephaly, brain damage (intracranial calcifications, hydrocephalus), mental retardation, cardiac and cerebral anomalies [8,12,13]. Congenital transmission of the infection during the first trimester is critical and causes severe clinical conditions in the fetus, whereas infections during the third trimester lead to rapid transmission [4,14].…”

Prevalência de infecções congênitas e perinatais em gestantes HIV positivas da região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte

“…A prevalência de toxoplasmose avaliada entre gestantes HIV positivas foi de 1,5%, taxa compatível com as demonstradas por outros estudos brasileiros realizados em gestantes HIV negativas, as quais variaram de 0,4 a 2,8% 2,5-8 . Em outro estudo brasileiro, a prevalência de toxoplasmose foi de 3,6% em gestantes HIV positivas e de 2,0% em gestantes HIV negativas 15 .…”