The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in hemodialysis patients in Bushehr, Iran in 2012

Background and Toxoplasmosis infection in hemodialysis patients may cause severe complications, and even in some cases the cause of death. It can be impose considerable costs to health systems. Since the high prevalence of this parasite has been reported in various parts of the country, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in hemodialysis patients in Bushehr, Iran.
In this cross-sectional study, all hemodialysis patients who were continuously referred from September 2011 to September 2012 to the dialysis center at Bushehr, were evaluated by the ELISA method for determine the presence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG & IgM antibodies.
From a total of 84 patients studied, 32 (38.1%) and 2 (2.4%) patients were positive for IgG and IgM antibodies, respectively. The results showed that there is no significant relationship between infection and some variables analyzed, such as consuming and washing vegetables and keeping cats.
Considering the high prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection among hemodialysis patients in Bushehr in comparison with healthy people in the region and since the fact that toxoplasmosis is a risk factor for life-threatening of hemodialysis patients, it is recommended that these patients should be screen for toxoplasmosis before dialysis as well as kidney transplant to prevent the spread of the infection through the process of dialysis.