Fifteen Years of Toxoplasmosis Screening at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, a Diagnostic Reference Center in Venezuela

Autor: Belkisyolé Alarcón de Noya, Milagros Aponte, Luciano Mauriello, Zoraida Díaz-Bello, Arturo Muñoz-Calderón
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Human Parasitic Diseases. 8:1-9
ISSN: 1179-5700
DOI: 10.4137/hpd.s36806
Popis: Toxoplasmosis serodiagnosis was analyzed in the Instituto de Medicina Tropical in Caracas during 1999–2013. Subjects for toxoplasmosis diagnosis were grouped into five categories: pregnancy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, ocular pathology, lymphadenopathy, and others. Testing for specific anti-Toxoplasma IgM/IgG antibodies, as well as IgG avidity, was performed. Analysis of 68,622 individuals resulted in an overall prevalence of 50.9%, with 50.9% in pregnant women, 63.8% in patients with eye lesions, 53.1% in HIV-positive individuals, 33.3% in patients with lymphadenopathy, and 49% in other individuals. Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women aged ≤15 years was 32%, which increased to 64% in the middle age category. Diagnostic tests detected 54 recent infections in pregnant women and their follow-up showed no congenital infection. The present age-related and comorbidity prevalence data should be used to design control measures to prevent congenital transmission, coinfection in immunosuppressed patients, and eye lesions in children.
Databáze: OpenAIRE