A decreasing trend in toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence among pregnant women in Romania ‑ results of a large scale study

Motoi,Sorin; Navolan,Dan   Bogdan; Malita,Daniel; Ciohat,Ioana; Nemescu,Dragos; Manciuc,Carmen; Gorun,Florin; Vilibic‑Cavlek,Tatjana; Boda,Daniel; Craina,Marius; Dobrescu,Amadeus

doi:10.3892/etm.2020.9012

A decreasing trend in toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence among pregnant women in Romania ‑ results of a large scale study

Authors:
- Sorin Motoi
- Dan Bogdan Navolan
- Daniel Malita
- Ioana Ciohat
- Dragos Nemescu
- Carmen Manciuc
- Florin Gorun
- Tatjana Vilibic‑Cavlek
- Daniel Boda
- Marius Craina
- Amadeus Dobrescu
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Affiliations: Department of Medical Imaging and Radiology, ‘Victor Babes’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ‘Victor Babes’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania, Department of Antenatal Laboratory, Emergency Clinical City Hospital, 300202 Timisoara, Romania , Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ‘Grigore T. Popa’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania, Department of Infectious Diseases, ‘Grigore T. Popa’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania, Department of Virology, Croatian National Institute of Public Health and School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, Dermatology Research Laboratory, ‘Carol Davila’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Department of Surgery, ‘Victor Babes’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Published online on: July 14, 2020 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2020.9012
Pages: 3536-3540
Copyright: © Motoi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic infection caused by the obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). T. gondii infection is a cause of congenital infection worldwide. Primary infection or the reactivation of latent infection during pregnancy may lead to fetal infection and to congenital toxoplasmosis syndrome. Seropositive pregnant women are generally protected from maternal‑fetal transmission of T. gondii, although exceptions exist. The aim of our study was to analyze the dynamics of T. gondii seroprevalence during a 10‑year period and to correlate it with age and demographic features of pregnant women. We tested 6,889 pregnant women in Timisoara, Romania, for IgG‑anti‑T. gondii antibodies, in two successive periods: i) 2008‑2010 (group 1: 1,457 participants); and ii) 2015‑2018 (group 2: 5,432 participants). For each participant, data on age and area of residence were collected. Our results showed that in the Western Region of Romania T. gondii seroprevalence in pregnant women declined from 43.79 to 38.81% in the last ten years. This trend was observed in both urban (40.53 vs. 34.85%) and rural areas (52.22 vs. 46.22%). A higher seroprevalence rate was found in rural than in urban areas. In addition, we found an increasing tendency of seroprevalence related to the age of pregnant women.

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