Bhaskar Das1, Anant Dattatray Urhekar2, Neha Singh3, Harapriya Kar4
CONTEXT
Toxoplasmosis is one of the cause of abortion in pregnant women. Transplacental passage of the parasite from infected mother to the child may present with blindness, neurological impairment and mental retardation in congenital toxoplasmosis. Serological screening of pregnant women for Toxoplasmosis is very important to rule out causes of abortion and congenital malformation.
AIM
To analyse the prevalence of Toxoplasmosis by evaluating Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies and correlating with age and trimester of pregnancy and other predisposing factors like h/o animal contact and socioeconomic status of the pregnant women attending antenatal clinic.
SETTINGS & DESIGN
Prospective study.
MATERIAL & METHODS
Serum samples were collected from 217 pregnant women without any h/o abortion, attending antenatal clinic along with epidemiological data. ELISA test for IgG and IgM Toxoplasma antibodies done with serum samples. The study carried out over a period of two years from October 2011 to September 2013.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
The Chi-square test was used to evaluate the association between age, trimester of pregnancy, animal contact history and socioeconomic status.
RESULTS
Toxoplasma IgG prevalence was 27.7% and that of IgM was 14.8%. The distribution showed increase of IgG and IgM positivity with increases in age and trimester of pregnancy. Both IgG and IgM positivity is associated with high socioeconomic group and with h/o contact with dog.
CONCLUSION
Toxoplasmosis prevalence is quite high and associated with predisposing factors. Early detection in pregnant women can reduce the severity of the disease.
