Toxoplasma infection in pregnant women : seroprevalence and risk factors

Abstract EN

Objective : to determine the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women in Al-Azhar university hospitals Cairo, Egypt, and to identify the risk factors and possible contamination routes of this infection Design : cross sectional study Patients and Methods : the study was conducted in Al-Azhar University Hospitals (El-Hussein and Bab El Sharia Hospital), Cairo, Egypt.

The study included 400 pregnant women attending the gynecologic antenatal clinics in the two studied hospitals, from the 1st of December 2006 to July 2007.

After a questionnaire applied to the pregnant women, Toxoplasma antibodies I g G and I g M were measured with Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (E1ISA).

The chi-squared test was used for the analytic assessment.

Result : the mean age of o the studied pregnant women was 24.28 + 4.56 years, the seroprevalence of anti-toxoplasma I g G antibodies for toxoplasmosis was 10%.

Seroprevalence was increased with age (p = 0.00) and drinking water consumption other than bottled water (p = 0.042).

No significant relations were observed between toxoplasma I g G antibodies and education level, consumption of meat, vegetable and milk / milk products, personal or kitchen hygiene habits, cat owning at home of the pregnant women.

Conclusion : nearly one of every ten pregnant women in our study was at risk of toxoplasmosis at the first trimester of their pregnancy.

Increased seroprevalence with age was a predictable result because of increasing time of exposure.

Increased seroprevalence with consumption of municipal supplies was similar with latest epidemiological findings.