ABSTRACT
The breakthrough infection following COVID-19 vaccination has been a subject of concern recently. Evidence suggests that COVID-19 vaccine efficacy diminishes over time due to multiple factors related to the host, and vaccine. Coinfection with other pathogens was claimed earlier as a contributing cause for this phenomenon. Hence, we aimed to stratify the association of post-COVID-19 vaccination breakthrough coinfection with Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and its impact on disease severity. This cross-sectional study included 330 COVID-19-vaccinated patients confirmed by RT-PCR. They were also screened for anti- T. gondii antibodies using ELISA. Toxoplasma seropositive cases' whole blood was screened for DNA using PCR to correlate results with COVID-19 severity. Out of 330 COVID-19 vaccinated patients with breakthrough infection, 34.5% (114 patients) showed positivity for Toxoplasma IgG by ELISA, and none of the cases was IgM positive. Eleven patients (9.6%) of the IgG-positive cases were positive by PCR. Positive PCR cases correlated positively with the Toxoplasma IgG titer (P < 0.001), and the Cutoff point was 191.5. Molecular analysis of Toxoplasma and COVID-19 severity showed that 8 (72.7%), 1 (9.1%), and 2 cases (18.2%) had mild, moderate, and severe courses of the disease, respectively, with no significant correlation. Our study reported a heightened prevalence of latent toxoplasmosis among mild cases of COVID-19 breakthrough infection. Nevertheless, a discernible correlation between latent toxoplasmosis and COVID-19 severity is lacking. Hence, implementing studies on a larger scale could provide a more comprehensive comprehension of this association.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Coinfection , Toxoplasma , Toxoplasmosis , Humans , Toxoplasma/genetics , Breakthrough Infections , Cross-Sectional Studies , COVID-19 Vaccines , Toxoplasmosis/epidemiology , Antibodies, Protozoan , Immunoglobulin G , Immunoglobulin M , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
<b>Background and Objective:</b> Toxoplasmosis is an infective zoonotic disease caused by protozoan <i>Toxoplasma gondii </i>(<i>T. gondii</i>).<i> </i>Molecular identification of <i>T. gondii</i> followed by studying the hereditary variety range of <i>T. gondii </i>isolates in Egypt was investigated. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Blood samples were acquired from 138 live ewes and 212 she-goats from 5 governorates of Egypt, also the blood and its related tissue samples (uterus, diaphragm, heart and thigh muscles from each animal) were collected from slaughtered 180 ewes and 206 she-goats from Cairo and Giza abattoirs. <b>Results:</b> Using ELISA, the total seropositivity of live ewes and she-goats was 26.8 and 21.2%, respectively, while it was 16.6 and 33% in slaughtered ewes and she-goats, respectively. <i>T. gondii</i> tissue cysts with the associated characteristic histopathological changes were detected in different organs. Twenty-eight <i>T. gondii</i> isolates were confirmed using PCR, while among 24 milk samples from seropositive live ewes and she-goats, only 12.5 and 6.25%, were positive using PCR, respectively. Genotyping using multiple nested PCR (n-PCR) combined with restriction enzyme analysis (RFLP) of the surface antigen 2 (SAG2) gene confirmed 26 isolates (92.8%) as type II and 2 (7.1%) as type III. <b>Conclusion:</b> Type II and III are the most common <i>T. gondii</i> genotypes in Egyptian small ruminants with additional importance for public health in Egypt. Further studies are needed on the role of milk in the transmission of toxoplasmosis.
