Association between breakthrough infection with COVID-19 and Toxoplasma gondii: a cross-sectional study.

Autor: Gouda MA; Department of Clinical and Molecular Parasitology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Menoufia, Egypt. marwa_goda@liver.menofia.edu.eg., AboShabaan HS; Department of Clinical Pathology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Menoufia, Egypt., Abdelgawad AS; Department of Clinical Pathology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Menoufia, Egypt., Abdel Wahed AS; Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Menoufia, Egypt., A Abd El-Razik K; Department of Animal Reproduction, National Research Centre (NRC), Dokki, Giza, Egypt., Elsaadawy Y; Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology, and Infection Control, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt., Abdel-Wahab AA; Department of Clinical and Molecular Parasitology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Menoufia, Egypt., Hawash Y; Department of Clinical and Molecular Parasitology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Menoufia, Egypt.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2023 Oct 17; Vol. 13 (1), pp. 17636. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 17.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44616-3
Abstrakt: The breakthrough infection following COVID-19 vaccination has been a subject of concern recently. Evidence suggests that COVID-19 vaccine efficacy diminishes over time due to multiple factors related to the host, and vaccine. Coinfection with other pathogens was claimed earlier as a contributing cause for this phenomenon. Hence, we aimed to stratify the association of post-COVID-19 vaccination breakthrough coinfection with Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and its impact on disease severity. This cross-sectional study included 330 COVID-19-vaccinated patients confirmed by RT-PCR. They were also screened for anti- T. gondii antibodies using ELISA. Toxoplasma seropositive cases' whole blood was screened for DNA using PCR to correlate results with COVID-19 severity. Out of 330 COVID-19 vaccinated patients with breakthrough infection, 34.5% (114 patients) showed positivity for Toxoplasma IgG by ELISA, and none of the cases was IgM positive. Eleven patients (9.6%) of the IgG-positive cases were positive by PCR. Positive PCR cases correlated positively with the Toxoplasma IgG titer (P < 0.001), and the Cutoff point was 191.5. Molecular analysis of Toxoplasma and COVID-19 severity showed that 8 (72.7%), 1 (9.1%), and 2 cases (18.2%) had mild, moderate, and severe courses of the disease, respectively, with no significant correlation. Our study reported a heightened prevalence of latent toxoplasmosis among mild cases of COVID-19 breakthrough infection. Nevertheless, a discernible correlation between latent toxoplasmosis and COVID-19 severity is lacking. Hence, implementing studies on a larger scale could provide a more comprehensive comprehension of this association.
(© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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