Abstract
BackgroundPatients with psychiatric disorders were found to show a high seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection. There is scarce information about the epidemiology of T. gondii infection in psychiatric patients in Mexico. Therefore, we sought to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection and associated socio-demographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics in a population of psychiatric patients in Durango City, Mexico. Seroprevalence in patients was compared with that obtained in a control population.MethodsOne hundred and thirty seven inpatients of a public psychiatric hospital and 180 controls were examined for the presence of IgG and IgM antibodies against T. gondii by enzyme-linked immunoassay (Diagnostic Automation Inc., Calabasas, CA, USA). The control population consisted of blood donors of a public blood bank and elderly persons attending a senior center in the same city. Age in controls (42 years +/- 20.2) was comparable with that of the psychiatric patients (43.7 years +/-13.8) (p = 0.42). Socio-demographic, clinical and behavioral characteristics from the patients were also obtained.ResultsAnti-T. gondii IgG antibodies indicating latent infection with T. gondii was found in 25 (18.2%) of 137 psychiatric inpatients and 16 (8.9%) of 180 controls (p = 0.02). Ten (26.3%) of 38 schizophrenic patients had latent infection and this prevalence was also significantly higher than that observed in controls (p = 0.005). Prevalence of anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies was comparable among patients and controls (4.4% vs 2.2%, respectively, p = 0.22). Multivariate analysis showed that T. gondii infection in inpatients was positively associated with sexual promiscuity (adjusted OR = 15.8; 95% CI: 3.8–64.8), unwashed raw fruit consumption (adjusted OR = 5.19; 95% CI: 2.3–11.3), and a history of surgery (adjusted OR = 6.5; 95% CI: 2.6–16), and negatively associated with lamb meat consumption (adjusted OR = 0.26; 95% CI: 0.10–0.63).ConclusionIn the present study, psychiatric inpatients in Durango, Mexico, in general and schizophrenia inpatients in particular had a significantly higher prevalence of T. gondii infection than the control group. Results suggest that unwashed raw fruit consumption might be the most important route of T. gondii transmission in our psychiatric inpatients while lamb meat consumption the less important. Additional studies will have to elucidate the causative relation between infection with T. gondii and psychiatric disorders.
Highlights
Patients with psychiatric disorders were found to show a high seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection
When the socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics of the psychiatric patients were analysed by logistic regression, we found that T. gondii infection was associated with sexual promiscuity
We found that unwashed raw fruit consumption was associated with infection, and this finding suggests that contaminated fruit probably by cat feces might be important in parasite transmission in psychiatric patients
Summary
Patients with psychiatric disorders were found to show a high seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection. We sought to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection and associated socio-demographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics in a population of psychiatric patients in Durango City, Mexico. In a meta-analysis of 19 studies published since 1953 of T. gondii antibodies in persons with schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric disorders and in controls, researchers found that 11 studies reported a significantly higher percentage of antibodies in the affected persons [12]. Due to the limited number of recent epidemiological studies in psychiatric patients in general, and a lack of them in Mexico in particular, we have performed a cross-sectional study in order to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection in psychiatric patients of Durango City, Mexico.
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