Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology, Vol. 31, No. 2, August 2001 J. Egypt. Soc. Parasitol. 31 (2), 2001: 355 - 363
PREVALENCE OF TOXOPLASMA INFECTION IN QUALYOBIA GOVERNORATE, EGYPT
By
ATEF H. HUSSEIN1, ALI E. ALI MOHAMMED H. SALEH1, IBRAHEIM M. NAGATY1 AND A.Y. REZK2
Departments of Medical Parasitology and Gynaecology
and obstatrics2, Faculty of Medicine, Banha Branch of
Zagazig University, Banha, Egypt.
Abstract
EL/SA for toxopJasmosis was done on 152 randomly selected individuals, 31 full term parturient and 38 aborted or prematurely delivered women. Seropositivity to specific antitoxoplasma IgG antibodies was observed in 57.9%, 58.1% and 44.7% of random, full term and aborted samples respectively. Only 10.5%, 6.5% and 23.7% were found seropositive for specific antitoxoplasma IgM. respectively. The risk of feto-maternal transmission was very high (50%).
Introduction
Infection by the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii is often an asymptomatic or a mild clinical disease (Ho-Yen, 1992). However, initial maternal exposure to the parasite during pregnancy can cause fetal or neonatal complications, including mortality, low birth weight, blindness, hearing loss, and development of mental and motor disabilities during childhood (Desmonts & Couvreur. 1974; Wilson et al., 1980; Frenkel, 1990; Remington et al., 1995). Jmmunocompromized persons, such as cancer and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients and transplant recipients receiving immunosupressive drugs, may also suffer serious health consequences due to T. gondii infection, as encephalitis and
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