Hygiene measures as primary prevention of toxoplasmosis during pregnancy: a systematic review

Abstract

BACKGROUND. Hygiene measures are recommended to prevent toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, although screening for seroconversion in pregnant women currently are debated and practices vary among countries. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to assess the efficiency of hygiene measures during pregnancy to prevent toxoplasmosis infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS. We followed the standard MOOSE and PRISMA criteria when conducting this systematic review and reporting the results. A systematic literature search was conducted for studies on congenital toxoplasmosis prevention, toxoplasmosis prevention during pregnancy, toxoplasmosis prevention and hygiene measures, which were published between 1970 and August 2020, using the databases of PubMed, Scope Med, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library. RESULTS Our literature search identified 3964 articles, 3757 were excluded after review of title or abstract and 67 studies were considered relevant to the subject. We reviewed risk factors for toxoplasmosis infection during pregnancy and for congenital toxoplasmosis, preventive measures for toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, including: dietary recommendations, pet care measures, environmental measures, knowledge of risk factors and ways to control toxoplasmosis infection, knowledge of risk factors for infection by health professionals, knowledge of primary prevention measures by pregnant women. CONCLUSION. Hygiene measures are effective and applicable primary prevention to reduce toxoplasmosis and avoid congenital toxoplasmosis and its consequences.