Prevalence and risk factors for human toxoplasmosis in a rural community

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Toxoplasma gondii infection may lead to important pathological questions, especially in rural areas, where several sources of infection exist. Therefore, it is important to determine risk factors in order to establish adequate prophylactic measures. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors involved in human toxoplasmosis infection in a rural community, in Eldorado, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. This community was composed of 185 farms -with 671 inhabitants -from which 20 were randomly chosen. In these farms, blood samples were collected from rural workers, who also answered a risk factor questionnaire. Serum samples were analyzed by means of direct agglutination test for the detection of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. From 73 samples collected, 79.45% were positive. None of the studied variables was significantly associated with the prevalence of the infection. However, among the individuals who reported eyesight impairments, 94.4% had anti-T. gondii antibodies, compared with 74.0% who did not report eyesight changes (p = 0.0594). Moreover, most individuals in the study (68.20%) were older than 18 years and presented 84.44% positivity, compared with 66.67% of positive individuals younger than 18 years old. We were able to conclude that a high prevalence of antibodies did not imply significant associations with the risk factors studied.

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii among Healthy Populations by Different Techniques in Erbil Province

“…In our study no significant difference was observed between males and females although a higher seropositivity was observed among females (25.6%) than males (23.5%) ( Table 2). Similar results were obtained by (Marques et al, 2008) in Brazil. While other studies like that of Thi-qar by (Al-Mosawi et al, 2005) and Kirkuk by (Obaid, 2017), have shown a significant difference between male and female positive rates for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies.…”

“…The prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies was highest among those that ate ordinary farm meat (27.5%) followed by those who ate both ordinary farm meat and poultry meat (23.7 %) While lowest seropositivity was observed among those who ate only poultry meat (23.5%) but the differences were statistically insignificant ( Figure 4). Similar results were reported by (Marques et al, 2008) in Brazil that showed no significant difference between seropositivity and type of meat consumed. Ingesting tissue cyst containing undercooked or uncooked meat can infect humans (Al-Daoody and Khoshnaw, 2012).…”

“…Our results showed no significant difference among age groups, which is in agreement with results reported by (Obaid, 2017) in Kirkuk and (Sero-Prevalence of TORCH, 2017) in Erbil, but disagree with results reported by a study done in Kerbala by (Hasan, 2011). Although cats are the definitive hosts that shed oocysts, statistically no significant difference was detected between persons who had contact with cats and those who had no contact with cats, in spite of high rate of infection was seen in persons that had contact with cats (25.7%) than those who had no contact with cats (24.2%) (Table 3), which might be due to the presence of many stray cats around the neighborhoods, this result is similar to studies done in Kirkuk by (Obaid, 2017), in Brazil by (Marques et al, 2008) and in Ethiopia by (Gelaye et al, 2015). In disagreement with our results was a study done by (Alrashada et al, 2016) in Saudi Arabia that detected a lower seropositivity in those who had contact with cats, and studies done by (Galván-Ramírez et al, 2010) in Mexico and by (Rahi and Jasim, 2011) in Kut city, that showed there was a relationship between the prevalence of the disease and contact with cats.…”

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibody in HIV/AIDS-infected individuals in Maputo, Mozambique

“…19 Prevalence estimates of latent infections by T. gondii in HIV-infected patients showed a wide variation in the risk factors and ethnicity factors including classic factors such as those evaluated in this study, in terms of exposure to soil, animals and meat intake. 8,11,13,14,18,20,22 Findings of non-reactive tests for toxoplasmosis in studies addressing geographic regions where there are no cats, such as the Pacific Islands 25 are registered.…”

“…13,22 This happens especially in environments with characteristics of rural life, which increase the risk of infection. 8,11,13 Its incidence has a direct relationship with the prevalence of anti-T.gondii in the general population or in populations with greater vulnerability. 1 The prevalence of latent infection with toxoplasmosis is between 30% and 60% in most countries, varying widely in different regions of the world.…”