KNOWLEDGE OF PREGNANT WOMEN AND HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ON CONGENITAL TOXOPLASMOSIS

Abstract

Introduction: Toxoplasmosis is a disease that affects a large part of the world population. The congenital form occurs due to the transplacental passage of the parasite during pregnancy. In primary prevention programs, an initial step is to assess the level of information about the disease of the target audience. The objective was to assess the knowledge of pregnant women attended at the reference School Hospital in Uberlândia, MG and the professionals who attend prenatal care on congenital toxoplasmosis. Outline: In this descriptive study, information was acquired through a questionnaire applied between August 2017 and August 2018, with a sample of 138 pregnant women and 33 professionals. Results: It was found that 87.7% of pregnant women heard about toxoplasmosis, however 62.6% were unaware of all forms of infection and 34.5% were unaware of the infection during pregnancy. For the professionals, 69.7% provided guidance on seroconversion during pregnancy, but 18.2% answered that seronegative pregnant women should undergo the test only twice. Implications: These data show the importance of primary prevention programs, through university extension actions to ensure continuing education on this subject for pregnant women, and to keep health professionals trained with regard to notification of cases of congenital toxoplasmosis.