Toxoplasma gondii infection in vulnerable populations of Argentinian pregnant women: prevalence, seroconversion risk and congenital toxoplasmosis incidence rate

MARÍA INÉS, RODRÍGUEZ; JAIME M ALTCHEH; NOELIA, GÓMEZ; FABIOLA PARUSSINI; SILVIA CASSINERA; MARÍA ALEJANDRA, DÍAZ

Mar del Plata

Congreso; 3ra Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2019

Sociedades Argentinas SAIC, SAFE, SAB, SAP

Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by protozoanparasite Toxoplasma gondii. In peoplewith healthy immune system, the infection is usually asymptomatic. However,primary infection in pregnant women can cause severe congenital toxoplasmosis inthe developing fetus or newborn child. The diagnosis of congenitaltoxoplasmosis is difficult to establish until seroconversions during pregnancyare suspected. There are at present only few epidemiology studies aboutcalculations of congenital toxoplasmosis incidence rates based onseroconversion risk in Argentinian pregnant women. Moreover, there is noinformation about how changes in urban environment due to expanding poor urbanareas can produce favorable conditions for toxoplasmosis transmission. In thisstudy, through a cross-sectional retrospective study we have assessed theage-dependent prevalence of Toxoplasmagondii infection among a representative cohort of pregnant women (N= 2000),who requested prenatal screening in Ingeniero Carlos Snopek Hospital between2013 and 2016. This Hospital is the main health public service in Alto Comederodistrict, located in the southern area of San Salvador de Jujuy city. Thissuburban area is characterized by the presence of squatting households andlow-income residents. Firstly, we observed that prevalence distributionsignificantly increases with the age of patients. Secondly, we have checked ifboth variables age and prevalence could adjust to a linear regression by usingbinomial regression method with identity link. The test was significant(p<0,001) and incidence rate of seroconversion during pregnancy have beenfound remarkably high (7,43/1000 pregnancies). Additionally, estimatedcongenital toxoplasmosis incidence was 22,7/10.000 alive newborns. This valueis 8,79-fold higher than the globally estimated indicator for congenitaltoxoplasmosis. The future perspectives of this study, also applicable to otherpoor urban contexts, will be presented in the poster.