ABSTRACT

We aimed to investigate the Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity in pregnant women who referred to Erzurum Nenehatun Hospital for antenatal care, and to compare our data with other regions of Turkey.

In this retrospective study we evaluated Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM and anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG screening results of pregnant women who admitted to our hospital between January 2013 and December 2016 for antenatal care. The data was obtained from hospital’s digital data system and patient folders. Blood samples were investigated in microbiology laboratory with Macro-ELISA (Architect System, Abbott Diagnostics, Germany) method. Anti-Toxoplasma IgM positive cases were also evaluated with anti-Toxoplasma IgG avidity test. The results were evaluated as case numbers and percentages.

In 151 (0.6%) of the 25525 pregnant women, who were aged between 18 and 45, Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM positivity was detected. In 5119 (31%) of the 16433 pregnant women, Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG positivity was detected.

Our data was similar to the rest of the country. We suppose that every pregnant women should be educated about the disease and the transmission routes to raise an awareness and while the ones in the risk group should be screened instead of the whole group.

Keywords: Pregnancy, Toxoplasma gondii, toxoplasmosis, seropositivity, screening