Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is a serious zoonotic disease that can lead to abortion and congenital disorders and has a widespread global distribution in humans and animals. The objective of this review was to investigate the incidence of toxoplasmosis in Iranian neonates in order to obtain a comprehensive assessment of the overall situation of the disease for use in developing future interventions. Original studies investigating the incidence of Toxoplasma gondii infections in Iranian neonates were systematically searched in a number of English-language and Persian-language electronic databases. The search process resulted in the inclusion of a total of 11 studies in the systematic review, 10 of which were entered into the meta-analysis. The reviewed articles included 2,230 Iranian neonates investigated through January 1, 2018. Based on the retrieved studies, the overall weighted incidence rates of toxoplasmosis in the Iranian neonatal population and neonates with suspected congenital toxoplasmosis were estimated to be 0.64% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31 to 1.09) and 4.10% (95% CI, 2.68 to 5.77), respectively, using a fixed-effects model. The findings of the reviewed studies demonstrate that the incidence of toxoplasmosis is high in Iranian neonates. Accordingly, it can be concluded that toxoplasmosis is a serious public health concern that has been ignored by the Ministry of Health. Therefore, it is essential to perform further studies, in addition to implementing screening and detection programs, using standardized methods to estimate the incidence of toxoplasmosis in Iran and to determine its associated risk factors.
Highlights
Toxoplasmosis is a global endemic disease that infects roughly one-third of the total world population according to seroepidemiological studies [1,2]
The results of this study showed that neonates with suspected Congenital toxoplasmosis (CT) (4.10%) had a higher incidence of T. gondii infection than the overall neonatal population (0.64%) in Iran
Many questions remain to be answered in future investigations. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to provide a summary of the available data on the incidence of T. gondii infection in the Iranian neonatal population
Summary
Toxoplasmosis is a global endemic disease that infects roughly one-third of the total world population according to seroepidemiological studies [1,2]. Other transmission routes include congenital transmission of the disease from mother to fetus during pregnancy, organ transplantation, and infected blood [4]. Congenital toxoplasmosis (CT) is defined as the infection of a fetus, newborn, or infant aged under 1 year with T. gondii. The observation of specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) or immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies, specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies, and persistent IgG positivity until 1 year of age is indicative of CT [5]
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