Investigation on Toxoplasma gondii infection in liver disease patients in Hangzhou City

Abstract

To understand the Toxoplasma gondii infection in liver disease patients in Hangzhou City. A total of 1 200 patients with liver diseases were enrolled, including 300 patients with liver cancer, 300 cases with hepatitis B, 300 cases with hepatic fibrosis and 300 cases with fatty degeneration of the liver, while 1 200 healthy people served as controls. The serum anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies were detected in the subjects using ELISA assay. The seropositive rates of anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies were 24.00% (288/1 200) and 1.17% (14/1 200) in the liver disease patients, and 11.42% (137/1 200) and 1.08% (13/1 200) in the healthy controls, respectively. There was a significant difference in the seropositive rate of anti-T. gondii IgG antibody between the liver disease patients and controls (χ2 = 65.19, P < 0.01), and no significant difference was seen in the seropositive rate of anti-T. gondii IgM antibody between the liver disease patients and controls (χ2 = 0.04, P > 0.05). The seropositive rates of anti-T. gondii IgG antibody were 26.00%, 25.00%, 23.33% and 21.67% in the patients with liver cancer, hepatitis B, hepatic fibrosis and fatty degeneration of the liver, respectively, and no significant difference was detected among these patients with four types of liver diseases (χ2 = 1.79, P > 0.05). The seropositive rate of anti-T. gondii IgG antibody is high in liver disease patients in Hangzhou City, and the management and health education of toxoplasmosis should be given to patients with liver diseases.