Detection of Toxoplasma Gondii among Women in Duhok City-kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

Background: Congenital toxoplasmosis is one of the most endemic parasitic infections that can lead to clinical complications by transmission through mother to fetus transplacentally in aborted women. Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the rate of toxoplasmosis among pregnant and aborted women in Duhok/ Kurdistan Region-Iraq by using Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay(ELISA) and detect the seropositive cases by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) . Materials and Methods: A total of 102 samples were collected from women admitted to obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Duhok province. The data were collected through the period from January, 20th , 2019 until December, 30th, 2019.Blood and placental samples from 60 aborted women with Bad Obstetric History(BOH) and 42 placental samples from healthy normal pregnancies (as a control group). The placental samples of normal pregnancies were tested by RT-PCR technique while aborted women’s blood and placental samples were tested by both Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay(ELISA) and RT-PCR techniques. Results: The results revealed a low rate of infection by congenital toxoplasmosis. Seropositivity to T. gondii were 20/60 33.3% by ELISA, 25% IgM, 65% IgG and 10% both IgG and IgM whereas the retested seropositive samples by RT-PCR only 5% showed positive results. The highest rate of infection was at 32- 38 age group, first trimester 85%, single abortion 35%, who inhibits rural area 80%,ingesting homemade food 80%, and contact with animals(cats) 85%. Conclusion: Real-time PCR-based technique is the most accurate and suitable for routine screening, providing a rapid, sensitive, and quantitative way of detecting congenital toxoplasmosis in clinical specimens, without any false-positive result that may help to a targeted treatment.