The prevalence of Toxoplasma infection among pregnant women in Ibadan, Nigeria
Onadeko, M.O.; Joynson, D.H.; Payne, R.A.
Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 95(2): 143-145
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-5304 PMID: 1560485 Document Number: 319699
A health practitioner took blood samples from 352 pregnant women who attended the antenatal clinic at either the University College Teaching Hospital or St. May's Catholic Hospital in Ibadan City, Nigeria to determine the prevalence of toxoplasma infection among these women. The practitioner also took 241 samples from both women and newborns just after delivery. The samples were flown to the Toxoplasma Reference Unit of the Public Health Laboratory in Swansea, Wales to be tested by the toxoplasma dye test (DT) and ELISA IgM method. The DTs showed that 78% of the Nigerian women had titres of =or1/16. Further 47% had titres of =or1/128. On the other hand, these corresponding figures for pregnant women in Swansea, Wales were only 22% and 3%. Yet only 1 DT titre positive sample among those from the Nigerian women tested positive using the ELISA IgM method. The infant of the women who had a detectable toxoplasma specific IgM exhibited polydactylism, a common congenital abnormality in Ibadan. The researchers suggested that reinfections or recrudescence may account for the high antibody levels. The inner area of Ibadan, where 98% of these pregnant women lived, was overcrowded with poor environmental sanitation conditions including considerable contamination of cat feces. This situation most likely explains the higher prevalence of toxoplasma infection among pregnant women in Ibadan than among those in Swansea, Wales. This high rate of chronic toxoplasmosis poses a considerable potential risk as HIV spreads in Africa since cerebral toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic infection of AIDS.