Relationship between Toxoplasma gondii and abortion in aborted women in Najaf province

Abstract

Background: Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most common parasites of man; Toxoplasmosis may causes severe symptoms in the congenitally acquired form with severe complications such as miscarriage, fetal developmental retardation, intracranial calcification, hydrocephalus, encephalitis, neurological, mental illnesses and visual disorder.Methods: A case-control study was conducted to estimate role of Toxoplasmosis in occurrence of abortion among pregnant women in Najaf province. The present study was carried out on 228 aborted women, and 127non-aborted (pregnant women at 20th week gestation and had more than one successful birth as a control). All of these cases were limited to females only in the reproductive age (15-50 years). Toxo-IgM and Toxo-IgG antibodies were detected with Enzyme-Linked Immunoadsorbent Assay (ELISA) (Human/ Germany) in both groups. Results: It was found that IgG positive cases were 112 (31.5%), IgM positive cases were 27 (7.6%) and both IgM and IgG positive cases were 9 women (2.5%). The present study showed that toxoplasmosis positive women were about 4.8 folds more likely to have abortion (OR= 4.8, P=0.0001).Conclusion: There is association between infection with Toxoplasma gondii and occurrence of abortion.