Abstract
Infection with Toxoplasma gondii can lead to congenital and acquired disease, resulting in loss of vision and neurologic illness. We tested sera collected in the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999–2000 for T. gondii–specific immunoglobulin G antibodies and compared these results with results from sera obtained in the NHANES III survey (1988–1994). NHANES collects data on a nationally representative sample of the U.S. civilian population. Of 4,234 persons 12–49 years of age in NHANES 1999–2000, 15.8% (age-adjusted, 95% confidence limits [CL] 13.5, 18.1) were antibody positive; among women (n=2,221) 14.9% (age-adjusted, 95% CL 12.5, 17.4) were antibody positive. T. gondii antibody prevalence was higher among non-Hispanic black persons than among non-Hispanic white persons (age-adjusted prevalence 19.2% vs. 12.1%, p=0.003) and increased with age. No statistically significant differences were found between T. gondii antibody prevalence in NHANES 1999–2000, and NHANES III. T. gondii antibody prevalence has remained stable over the past 10 years in the United States.
Highlights
Infection with Toxoplasma gondii can lead to congenital and acquired disease, resulting in loss of vision and neurologic illness
Of the 4,875 persons 12–49 years of age who were selected for National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2000, a total of 4,602 (94.4%) persons were interviewed and underwent physician examination; of these, 4,234 persons (86.9% of those selected) had serum specimens tested for T. gondii antibodies
The T. gondii antibody prevalence was higher in Mexican Americans than in non-Hispanic whites, but the difference was not statistically significant (16.8% vs. 12.1%, p=0.051)
Summary
Infection with Toxoplasma gondii can lead to congenital and acquired disease, resulting in loss of vision and neurologic illness. Infection in humans generally occurs either by ingesting viable tissue cysts in raw or undercooked meat or by ingesting oocysts shed in the feces of a cat. To present the prevalence of infection in the U.S population, we report the Toxoplasma-specific IgG results of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) conducted in 1999–2000 and compare the prevalence of Toxoplasma IgG antibody seropositivity during these years to the prevalence observed previously in NHANES III 1988–1994. In the NHANES III national probability sample, 22.5% of 17,658 persons >12 years of age had Toxoplasma-specific IgG antibodies, indicating that they had been infected with the organism (published prevalence was age-adjusted to the 1980 U.S population; prevalence for same population age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S population is 23.6%) [6]
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