Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the infectious agents of congenital TORCH infections, causes severe clinical outcomes in fetus and newborns. Nevertheless this life-threatening parasitic disease is preventable by simple preventive measures related to lifestyle during pregnancy. We aim to study on the knowledge about toxoplasmosis and practices that prevents this infection among the pregnant women. Total of 2598 pregnant women from Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand were randomly surveyed to determine the knowledge and their practices on Toxoplasma infection. The questionnaire covered respondents' general information and knowledge on plausible risks factors, symptoms, timing of infection, prevention knowledge, and preventive behavior regarding Toxoplasma infection. Majority of these pregnant women were in their age group of 20–29 years (50.9%), completed secondary level of education (51.7%), in their second trimester of pregnancies (38.1%), non-parous (36.6%), and had no history of abortion (90.4%). Based on this survey, only 11% of these pregnant women had read, heard, or seen information regarding toxoplasmosis and 3.5% of them were aware of being tested for the infection. A small percentage of these pregnant women knew that T. gondii were shed in the feces of infected cats (19.4%) and sometimes found in the raw or undercooked meat (11.0%). There was 16.1% of responding women knew that toxoplasmosis is caused by an infection. Demographic profiles such as age group, level of education, pregnancy term, and number of children of the pregnant women showed significant association with their responses toward prevention knowledge and preventive behavior related questions (P < 0.05). Thus, it is suggested that health education on toxoplasmosis and primary behavioral practices should be consistently offered to reproductive age women in general and pregnant women in particular. This information could help to reduce vertical transmission of Toxoplasma infection during pregnancy.
Highlights
Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular coccidian protozoan, is the causative agent of Toxoplasmosis
Demographic information and questions related to general knowledge about toxoplasmosis, risks factors, symptoms, and timing of infection, prevention knowledge, and preventive behavior was adopted from a previous study (Jones et al, 2003) with some modifications
A total of 2598 pregnant women participated in this survey with 756, 1063, and 779 from Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, respectively
Summary
Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular coccidian protozoan, is the causative agent of Toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma have three main forms in its entire life cycle, being; oocysts, tachyzoites, and bradyzoites. The oocyst is infective to humans and other intermediate host (mammals and other warm blooded animals). Toxoplasma develops itself into tachyzoites (rapid multiplication of Toxoplasma in trophozoite form) or maintain dormant in bradyzoites (tissue cysts), depending on the host immune status (John and Petri, 2006). If the infected tissue of an animal being consumed, it acts as a transmission mode of infection. This parasitic infection can be transmitted by ingestion of Toxoplasma oocysts contaminated fruits and vegetables or unclean water, through blood transfusion, and by receiving organ transplant (Pereira et al, 2010). Exposures to contaminated feces by cleaning cat’s litter, gardening, or handling contaminated soils are some of the ways of this parasitic infection being transmitted
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
