Investigation on Toxoplasma gondii infection and awareness of toxoplasmosis-related knowledge in women with poor pregnant outcomes in Wuxi City

Abstract

To investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection and awareness of toxoplasmosis-related knowledge among women with poor pregnant outcomes in Wuxi City. A total of 217 women with poor pregnant outcomes from Wuxi City during the period of January 2011 to December 2015 were randomly selected as the study subjects (a study group), while 250 women with normal pregnancy were served as controls (a control group). The sero-prevalence of T. gondii infection was detected by using ELISA and compared between the study and control groups. The awareness of toxoplasmosis-related knowledge was investigated by using a self-designed questionnaire and compared between the study and control groups. The positive rate of anti-Toxoplasma antibody was 30.88% in the study group, which was significantly higher than that (8.8%) in the control group (χ2 = 36.7, P < 0.01). The positive rates of anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies were 20.74% and 10.14% in the study group respectively, which were significantly higher than those (6% and 2.8%) in the control group (χ2 = 22.53 and 10.74, both P values < 0.01). In addition, the positive rates of anti-Toxoplasma, anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies were significantly higher in the women with missed miscarriage, natural abortion, stillbirth and birth defect than those in the women with normal pregnancy (all P values < 0.05). The awareness rates of "Do you hear about Toxoplasma or toxoplasmosis?" (P < 0.01), "Do you know that breeding pet cats or dogs may cause Toxoplasma infection?" (P < 0.05) and "Do you know that pregnancy women require the detection of Toxoplasma infection?" (P < 0.01) were significantly lower in the study group than those in the control group, while no significant differences were seen in the awareness rates of "Do you know that eating hot pot may cause Toxoplasma infection?", "Do you know that the use of chopping block in regardless of cooked and uncooked food may cause Toxoplasma infection?", "Do you know that Toxoplasma infection may transfer from mother to fetus?", "Do you know that Toxoplasma infection may cause adverse pregnant outcomes like abortion, stillbirth or fetal abnormalities ?", and "Do you know that the women infected with T. gondii during pregnancy require treatment?" between the two groups (all P values > 0.05). This study demonstrates higher prevalence of T. gondii infection in women with poor pregnant outcomes than in those with normal pregnancy in Wuxi City. Considering the harm of T. gondii infection during pregnancy and the low awareness of toxoplasmosis-related knowledge in pregnant women, the health education of toxoplasmosis-related knowledge should be strengthened, especially for pregnant women, so as to reduce the prevalence of T. gondii infection among pregnant women to improve the better child-bearing and rearing level.