Toxoplasma gondii Infection: Seroprevalence and Associated Risk Factors among Primary School Children in the Capital Area of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Abstract

SUMMARY:Although Toxoplasma gondii infection is commonly prevalent in the tropical/subtropical regions, the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) remains unclear. A seroepidemiological survey was undertaken for investigating T. gondii infection in primary school children (PSC) using the latex agglutination (LA) test in the capital area of RMI. Information on demographic characteristics and environmental risk factors was collected via a structured questionnaire. Logistic regression model was applied for multivariate analysis. The overall infection rate of T. gondii was found to be 54.8z. Significant gender differences were found at different urbanization levels. PSC with LA titers of AE 1:1,024, indicating high responders, were found to be younger age group than others (8.7 years vs. 10.3 years, P ＝ 0.003); moreover, infection rates among both age groups as well as high responders showed a decreasing trend with age. Multivariate analysis revealed that residing in urban rather than suburban settings was associated with increased risk of infection (P ＝ 0.04). No associations were found between raw meat consumption, drinking unboiled water, and cleaning of cat hutch using gloves. This is the first serological survey of T. gondii infection among PSC in RMI and could help in the development of strategies in the future for disease prevention and control of T. gondii transmission.

Aspectos clínico-epidemiológicos de la toxoplasmosis en pacientes que consultan por problemas de visión

“…Se incluyeron preguntas en relación al conocimiento de la enfermedad debido a que en algunos estudios se han demostrado relación con los hábitos higiénicos, muy importantes en la transmisión de la toxoplasmosis [17][18][19] ; sin embargo, no encontramos relación con los mismos, probablemente debido a que la población que consulta en este hospital es muy homogénea.…”

Toxoplasma gondii infection: seroprevalence and associated risk factors among primary schoolchildren in Lagos City, Southern Nigeria

“…All of the sera were screened for anti-T. gondii antibodies using a commercial test kit based on LA (TOXO Test-MT, Eiken Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan), according to manufacturer's instructions. A cutoff titer of 1:32 or higher was considered positive, while titers equal to or greater than 1:1,024 indicated high responders (22) (28) . Evaluation of the associations between demographic characteristics and T. gondii infection was performed by a chi-squared test to compare the proportions of infection based on gender, age group, body mass index (BMI), and parental occupation and educational level.…”

Seroprevalence Of Toxoplasma Gondii Antibodies And Associated Risk Factors Among Children In Lorestan Provinces, Iran

“…So far, in numerous investigations the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in children has been demonstrated in several countries around the world (Fu et al, 2014;Xin et al, 2015), however little is known about the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in children from Iran. In the present investigation, totally 316 children (aged 2-15 years), referring to health centres of Lorestan province, Iran were studied to determine the anti-T. gondii antibodies.…”

“…So far, in numerous investigations the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in children has been demonstrated in several countries around the world (Fu et al, 2014;Xin et al, 2015), however little is known about the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in children in Iran.…”