Abstract
Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, is zoonotic disease and is one of the most important foodborne parasitic diseases globally. The prevalence in humans is highly variable, being influenced by cultural habits, socioeconomic, and environmental conditions. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of T. gondii infection in humans on the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco State, Brazil, and to identify the risk factors associated with this infection. The seroprevalence of immunoglobulin G anti-T. gondii antibodies was 50.4% (172/341, 95% CI: 45.2%-55.7%). Factors associated with the infection were consumption of well water or rainwater (odds ratio [OR]: 2.43, p=0.020) and consumption of game meat (OR: 1.80, p=0.026). This is the first study to provide epidemiological information of T. gondii infection among the residents of the Island of Fernando de Noronha, revealing a considerable antibody seroprevalence in this population. This study provides information for the adoption of prevention and control measures in island environments.
Highlights
Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, is an important zoonotic disease that causes severe problems in humans, including reproductive, ophthalmic (Tenter et al, 2000; Montoya & Liesenfeld, 2004), neurological changes (Dubey et al, 2012) and behavioral disorders (Flegr et al, 2014)
Magalhães et al (2016a, b; 2017) has previously assessed infection by this coccidian in companion and production animals raised on Fernando de Noronha Island and found high seropositivity prevalence in sheep (85.0%; 204/240), pet cats (71.26%; 248/348), feral cats (54.74%; 150/247), and especially free-range chickens (88.4%; 380/430), which may indicate a high rate of environmental contamination by oocysts of the protozoan since chickens act as sentinels (Magalhães et al, 2016a; Dubey et al, 2010)
Isolates of T. gondii have been obtained from animals from the island and molecularly characterized (Melo et al, 2016; Silva et al, 2017; Lima et al, 2019), indicating that there are a variety of genotypes of the protozoan in the insular environment
Summary
Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, is an important zoonotic disease that causes severe problems in humans, including reproductive, ophthalmic (Tenter et al, 2000; Montoya & Liesenfeld, 2004), neurological changes (Dubey et al, 2012) and behavioral disorders (Flegr et al, 2014). The overall range of seroprevalence was determined to be 0.5-87.7%, with an average global seroprevalence rate of 25.7% (95% CI: 25.6-25.8%) (Molan et al, 2019), which is attributed to several factors such as dietary habits, age (Dubey et al, 2012), and sanitary conditions (Mareze et al, 2019). These data are mainly from studies conducted in continental regions, epidemiological data in insular environments, in Brazil, are scarce. Isolates of T. gondii have been obtained from animals from the island and molecularly characterized (Melo et al, 2016; Silva et al, 2017; Lima et al, 2019), indicating that there are a variety of genotypes of the protozoan in the insular environment
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