Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is caused by infection with the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), an obligate intracellular parasite. The infections produced a wide range of clinical syndromes in humans, land and sea mammals, and various bird species. Toxoplasmosis is especially important among Immune-compromised patients and pregnant women. Infection of mothers during pregnancy by Toxoplasma gondii may have serious consequences for fetus ranging from miscarriage, central nervous system involvement, retinochoroditis, or at birth subclinical infection. Objectives: To determine Toxoplasmosis sero-prevalence, awareness and risk Behavior among pregnant women following antenatal care in Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital, Asella, Ethiopia. Methods: Institutional based quantitative cross sectional study design was conducted on sample size of 384 from December 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. To collect the demographic and risk factor related data a pre-tested Structured, questionnaire was used. Serum sample, collected was tested for Toxoplasma Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and Toxoplasma Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies using anti- IgG and IgM antibodies by Toxoplasma immune-chromatographic test (ICT) IgG-IgM test. To show association between the dependent and independent variables a bivariable and multivariable logistic regression model was applied allowing for p, 0.05 and the confidence interval 95%. Result: The overall sero- prevalence of T. gondii in the study area was 81.8%. Three hundred and fourteen (81.8%) of the pregnant women were IgG seropositive, fifty women (13%) were IgM seropositive. fifty women were positive for both IgG and IgM. None of the pregnant women were positive exclusively for IgG and IgM ani-bodies. eating raw meat (COR=3.480, 95%CI: 1.450-8.352; P=0.005, AOR=3.798, 95%CI: 1.249-11.550, P=0.19), using unpasteurized milk (COR=3.860, 95%CI: 2.118-7.037; P=0.000, AOR=3.907, 95% CI: 1.744-8.751, P=0.001), having three or more children (COR=2.194, 95%CI: 1.065-4.518; P=0.033) and Consumption of raw egg (COR=2.042, 95%CI: 1.049-3.974; P=0.036). Conclusion: The sero-prevalence of T. gondii antibodies was high among the pregnant women. Those who consumed raw meat and egg, unpasteurized milk and those who have three or more children were at higher risk of T. gondii infection. Hence, blood screening for Toxoplasmosis, health education and awareness creation among pregnant women should be done during antenatal follow up.
Highlights
Toxoplasmosis is caused by the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), an obligate, intracellular protozoan, which is a widespread zoonotic parasite which can infect all warmblooded animals [1], and is one of the most common zoonosis in the world [2]
There wasn’t known any information about the sero-prevalence of T. gondii in Arsi zone and this is the first report of T. gondii infection in Asella, Ethiopia
The sero-prevalence of T. gondii antibodies was high among the pregnant women
Summary
Toxoplasmosis is caused by the Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), an obligate, intracellular protozoan, which is a widespread zoonotic parasite which can infect all warmblooded animals [1], and is one of the most common zoonosis in the world [2]. In Ethiopia the highest prevalence (95.1%) was reported from Butajira from patients found in 15-49 age groups [4], 94% prevalence among HIV/AIDS patients from Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital [5], and 85.4% among pregnant women in Addis. Infection at primary pregnancy can be spread to the fetus and causes hereditary toxoplasmosis and resulted in miscarriages, in utero death, delay growth in neonate, ophthalmic and neurological diseases [7,8,9,10]
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