Seroprevalence of toxoplasma gondii antibodies among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of federal medical center, lagos, nigeria

Abstract

The mortality rate of Toxoplasma gondii in adult is very low, but it could cause devastating effects including eye blindness, neurological impairment and mental retardation in a congenitally infected children. Despite, the untold hardship caused by this parasite on the children of infected pregnant women, information on the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Lagos is limited. Two hundred and seventy six pregnant women attending antenatal clinic for the first time were screened for Toxoplasma antibodies using Enzyme Immunoassay and structured questionnaire was used use to obtain information on risk factors associated with infection. Out of the 276 women tested, 21 (7.6) and 90 (32.6) has Toxoplasma IgM and Toxoplasma IgG respectively. Toxoplasma IgM was common in the first trimester (16.7) while Toxoplasma IgG was seen mostly in the third trimester (46.7). Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma IgM and IgG was seen to be significantly associated with parity (p < 0.05). Toxoplasma IgG were found to be significantly associated with age of the women. Histories of farming, still birth, eating of raw vegetables were associated with seroprevalence of Toxoplasma IgG. The results of our studies show that the seroprevalence rate is still low and there is the need to include the testing of Toxoplasma as a part of the antenatal investigation done on pregnant women and to further educate women about the risk factors that lead to Toxoplasma infection in order to reduce congenital malformations and death as a result of these infections