| Popis: |
Toxoplasmosis affects a wide-range of vertebrate hosts with variable prevalences among different societies all over the world. In Egypt, toxoplasmosis is still considered a health problem especially during pregnancy and in immunocompromised patients. Among the different types of antibodies tested to assess the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in a community, the anti-Toxoplasma gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulins A and M (IgA, IgM) are the most commonly evaluated to determine association with chronic and acute infections respectively. The current review is a systematic search of the databases to retrieve studies reporting mainly the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to determine exposure to toxoplasmosis among the Egyptian population in the different governorates. Seroprevalence was recorded from reports on the general population, blood donors, and females with normal and complicated pregnancies. Patients with different comorbidities, such as tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic hepatitis, renal failure, diabetes and some neuropsychiatric disorders were included. Significant risk factors comprised contact with cats and consumption of raw vegetables or insufficiently cooked meat. The review highlights the magnitude of toxoplasmosis in Egypt; however, studies on a large scale would better ascertain the burden of toxoplasmosis since there is great variation between the Egyptian governorates. Awareness of the prevalence of toxoplasmosis will help in development of policies for better controlling, particularly in high seroprevalence areas. |
