Incidence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in women with high-risk pregnancy and habitual abortions

ABSTRACT

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis caused by Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular parasite. In pregnant women on the worldwide scale, there are seroprevalences from 7 per cent to 51.3 per cent and in women with abnormal pregnancies and abortions the seroprevalences vary from 17.5 per cent to 52.3 per cent. In Mexico, seropositivity has been found to vary from 18.2 per cent to 44.8 per cent in women with abnormal deliveries or abortions. This study's aim was to determine the incidence of IgG and IgM anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in women at the Gineco-Obstetrics Hospital of the Western Medical Center of the Mexican Social Security Institute. Three hundred and fifty women with high-risk pregnancies were studied, and 122 (34.9 per cent) were found to be IgG seropositive and 76 (20.7 per cent) were IgM positive. In one group of women with habitual abortions there were 48 (44.9 per cent) with the presence of IgG antibodies and 33 (33.3 per cent) were IgM seropositive. Seropositivity was analyzed according to age, occupation, socio-economic level, eating raw or poorly cooked meat, and living with cats.