Toxoplasma antibodies by indirect latex agglutination tests in St. Mary's Hospital patients

Abstract

A total of 421 patients hospitalized in St. Mary's Hospital were examined by indirect latex agglutination test in order to evaluate the Toxoplasma antibody in Korean from June to August 1981. The test sera of the patients were obtained from each age group by random sampling. 1. The 421 samples of test sera showed negative in 153, 1:2 in 157, 1:4 in 59, 1:8 in 27, 1:16 in 7, 1:32 in 9, 1:64 in 2, 1:128 in 4 and 1:256 in 3 cases, respectively. 2. The positive rate of Toxoplasma antibody was 4.3 percent in this sample when indirect latex antibodies of 1:32 or higher were regarded as positive. 3. The titers of positive Toxoplasma antibodies were increased by age.

Serologic Survey of Toxoplasmosis in Seoul and Jeju-do, and a Brief Review of Its Seroprevalence in Korea

“…The latex agglutination test (LAT) has been one of the most reliable diagnostic methods for toxoplasmosis for almost 4 decades [7,8,20]. However, its sensitivity has been estimated to be lower than that by ELISA both for serum and cerebrospinal fluid [11].…”

“…2). For example, in Seoul, 1.1-7.0% seroprevalence was reported in 1982-1992 [7-11]. Thereafter, among children under 10 years of age in Seoul, a 1997 study revealed 7.7% seropositivity [13].…”

“…Chronologic view of the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis reported in Korea (1982-2012) based on data in Table 4 [7-24]. Each point represents % seropositive rate for each subjected group surveyed.…”

Toxoplasma gondii antibody titers in sera of children admitted to the Seoul National University Children's Hospital

“…Concerning T. gondii prevalence in Korea, a study performed in 1960 reported a seropositive rate of 5.6% (Soh et al, 1960) and several studies performed during 1970 and 1989 reported seropositive rates of 1.9-14.3% (Nakayama et al, 1970;Choi et al, 1982;Kim and Choi, 1983;Choi et al, 1983Choi et al, , 1985Choi et al, , 1989. Two recent studies on pregnant women by ELISA reported that the seropositive rate was 7.0% (Im et al, 1991) and 4.3% (Ryu et al, 1996).…”

“…The ILA test is most widely used because of its high specificity and high sensitivity (Kobayashi et al, 1978;Balfour et al, 1982). In Korea, the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection had been reported around 6-14% in the 1960-1970s (Soh et al, 1960;Nakayama et al, 1970), and 2-7% in the 1980-1990s (Choi et al, 1982;Kim and Choi, 1983;Choi et al, , 1985Choi et al, , 1989, showing no much fluctuations during the past 30-40 years. The subjected people were mostly adults from local areas, with or without specific disease backgrounds.…”