Sero-Prevalence of Toxoplasma Gondii and Risk Factors Associated with Pregnant Women of District Dir Lower, Pakistan

Toxoplasmosis is worldwіde distributed zoonotic disease that infects about 20% to 90% adult population of the world. The parasite is usually found all around the globe which infects all warm-blooded creatures including human beings. Therefore, the current study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii and risk factors associated with pregnant women of District Dir Lower, Pakistan. Blood samples from 200 pregnant women were collected and their corresponding serums were tested for anti-toxoplasma IgM, IgG antibodies. During serological analysis, two various tests were used to screen the collected serum i.e. Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and ELISA. All the samples were screened through RDT for target etiological agent and the positive cases were then confirmed using ELISA. A self-design questionnaire was used to collect the socio-demographic information of the patient. Out of total 200 samples, 34 samples were seropositive and 166 samples were seronegative for etiological agent by Rapid Diagnostic Test. Among 34 positive samples, 30 were seropositive for IgG antibody and 4 were seropositive for IgM antibody. None of the pregnant women were reactive to both T. gondii IgM and IgG antibodies. The overall seroprevalence of the infection was 17%. All the positive samples were also screened by mean of ELISA for both IgG and IgM antibodies. Of the 34 positive samples, 27 specimens were sero-positive for T. gondii IgG antibody and 3 specimens were sero-positive for T. gondii IgM antibody. The current study concluded that the infection of Toxoplasma gondii is relatively high. Having contact with domestic animals, drinking pipe water (general network) source and consumption of raw fruits/vegetables were recognized as probable risk factors associated with the infection of T. gondii. Moreover, the burden of disease was found to be high in the second trimester of pregnancy.