ABSTRACT

Blood transfusion therapy for Thalassaemia patients may cause transmission of some infectious agents to the recipients. As Toxoplasma gondii is a transfusion-transmitted parasite, we aimed to investigate anti-Toxoplasma antibodies.

We arranged two groups: patients and controls. There were 36 Thalassaemia cases in the patient group. The control group also included 36 healthy people (of the same ages and gender) who were selected by the one-to-one mapping method. Mean age was 18.1±8.3 (4-35). Toxoplasma gondii IgG and IgM antibodies were analyzed by the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA).

We determined parasite-specific Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies in 7 (19.4%) and borderline levels of IgM antibody in 2 Thalassaemia major cases (5.5%). In the control group, parasite-specific IgG antibody was found in 5 cases (14%). Serum samples of patients with borderline levels were analyzed with an avidity test and were found to have high avidity. There were no significant differences between patient and control groups when considering the presence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies (p=0.752).

Although there is no significant statistical difference, we suggest that blood transfusion donors should be investigated for infectious agents such as Toxoplasma gondii.

Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, Thalassaemia major, transfusion, Aydın