Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis in Pregnant Women in Urmia City, Iran

Background:Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that can infect a wide range of hosts, including humans. Infection with T. gondii is potentially life threatening in immunocompromised individuals. Moreover Infection with Toxoplasma gondii during pregnancy can lead to severe illness in the fetus. ManyT. gondii infections are preventable by simple hygienic measures.Methods: In this cross-sectional and descriptive study, a total of 156 cases were selected randomly from pregnant women who Anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies were screened by using standard commercial ELISA kits. The socio-demographic, obstetrics and risk factors associated with Toxoplasma infection data were collected in pregnant women of Urmiacity so preventive method should be considered urgently.Results:Out of the 156 pregnant women, 44 were positive for T. gondiiIgG antibodies and 306 were negative. The mean age of women was 19.68 and the seropositive rate of IgM positive for T. gondii infection was 2.6%.Conclusion: From our study, Toxoplasma screening and its risk measurement in pregnant women is strongly recommendedbecause considerable number of pregnant women in our area are susceptible to infection of acute T. gondii over the course of pregnancy.

Keywords:

Seroepidemiology , Toxoplasmosis , ELISA , Urmia , West Azerbaijan