Background: The unique single-stranded RNA virus COVID-19 is to blame for the initial viral pneumonia outbreak in China that quickly turned into a pandemic. The "immune exhaustion" which flares up viral multiplication and hasty clinical results, is one of the primary criteria of the immune response against COVID-19 and also, it is a common side effect of chronic infections with Toxoplasma gondii. The severity of COVID-19 could possibly be increased by the toxoplasmosis-associated immune depletion by making it worse.
Aim of study: Our goal was to ascertain the prevalence of coinfection with latent toxoplasmosis in COVID 19 positive patients as well as its impact on the progression of the infection and the fate of the disease.
Patients &Methods: 50 patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection were recruited for this cross sectional cohort prospective study at Benha university hospitals. They underwent Toxoplasma IgG testing by ELISA and had their conditions monitored to assess the COVID-19 infection's outcome.
Results: Toxoplasma IgG seropositivity was found in 29(58%) patients while history of animal contact was 48.3% and 38.1% in both IgG positive and negative groups respectively. Toxoplasma Positive group showed higher incidence of: long hospital stay (20.7±7.3), ICU admission (72.4%), need for ventilation (55.3%), and more lung affection and sever CT findings (24.1%) and higher death rate (10.3%). All these previous differences were statistically significant.
Conclusion: The concurrent latent toxoplasmosis infection in (SARS-CoV-2) patients was linked to a more severe course and a worse result of COVID-19 infection.
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