Seroprevalence and Potential Root Cause of Toxoplasmosis in Primary Children : A Study Conducted at King Abdulaziz Hospital

Abstract

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis with a high prevalence throughout the world. Toxoplasma gondii infection is frequently asymptomatic. Primary school children are particularly vulnerable to toxoplasmosis due to their habits of playing in water, soil, eating various raw foods, or contact with pets, including dogs, cats, and birds and hence they are an ideal target group to investigate T. gondii prevalence. Data collected from this age group can thus be used to assess whether T. gondii threatens the health of school-aged children, and also as a reference for evaluating the need for community interventions. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence rate of anti-toxoplasmosis IgG and IgM in Primary School children and to detect agents that increase prevalence of the disease. Materials and methods: 328 primary children (219 females and 109 males) were screened for T. gondii antibodies with ELISA along with a questionnaire conducted to all children and parents/guardians to obtain data for relevant eating and social habits. Among the risk factors tested, including contact with cats and soil, consumption of raw meat and vegetables, and drinking unboiled milk. Results: the seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG & IgM was found to be 12 % (40 out of 328) and 2.4 % (8 out of 328), respectively while combined anti Toxoplasma IgG & IgM antibodies were found in 1.5 % of the children (5 out of 328). Infection acquisition rate was directly proportional to age and it was of interest that the most significant risk factor was not the petting of cats but the ingestion of raw meat. The seroprevalence of T. gondii IgG & IgM by ELISA among primary children in this region of Saudi Arabia is considerable with few identifiable significant risk factors reported. Conclusion: effective measures should be taken to prevent and control T. gondii infection in primary school children, the results of this study showed that in order to increase awareness of the disease in the community especially for girls and their parents on common root causes such as raw meat and vegetable is necessary. Policy makers also need to initiate prevention and control programs to not only primary children but also pregnant women and immunocompromised patients in particular because they are more severely affected by T. gondii infection.