Evaluate the sero-epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii in patients referred to Ghaem hospital, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan with a global prevalence, which infects a wide range of hosts such as humans, domestic mammals, and birds. Humans and other vertebrates are indirectly infected with the parasite through ingesting oocytes. We aimed to evaluate the sero-epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii in patients visiting Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, in 2015. We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study of 306 patients visiting Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, in 2015. In case of the patients’ consent, a demographics form was completed by a trained individual, and 5 cc of blood was simultaneously drawn for the detection of toxoplasmosis. The blood samples were centrifuged at 2000 rpm for 10 min. Then, ELISA was carried out for measuring the anti-Toxoplasma gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM). Finally, to analyze the data, t-test and Fisher’s exact test were run in SPSS, version 22. The mean age of the patients was 25.56±5.8 years. Of the 306 patients, 270 (88.2%) were female and 36 (11.8%) were male. We found a significant relationship between age and the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (P<0.05). However, there was no significant association between gender and the prevalence of this parasite (P˃0.05). The overall prevalence of IgG specific for T. gondii was 34%, this rate among women and men was 34.4% and 33.6%, respectively. In total, the prevalence of IgM for T. gondii was 6.6%. Our study showed that the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in Mashhad, like other regions of Iran, is high. Thus, preventive measures should be adopted