Mohan Balvinder, Dubey M L, Malla Nancy, Kumar Rajesh
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh-160 012.
J Commun Dis. 2002 Mar;34(1):15-22.
Infections with Toxoplasma gondii in humans are usually asymptomatic or in the form of mild febrile illness. Primary infection in pregnant women may result in congenital toxoplasmosis while infection in immunocompromised subjects like AIDS patients may cause potentially fatal toxoplasma encephalitis. In India, only a few studies in hospital based patients have shown prevalence of toxoplasmosis to be between 1.5 and 21%. No field study involving general population is available. The present study investigates the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in subjects from rural, urban and urban slum populations of Union Territory, Chandigarh. Serum samples from 500 subjects from each group were collected and antitoxoplasma IgM and IgG was detected by conventional micro ELISA technique using soluble Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoite antigen. Overall 5.4% subjects were positive for IgM while 4.66% showed IgG antitoxoplasma antibodies. Amongst the three groups, significantly higher number of subjects in slum area (7.8%) showed IgM antibodies as compared to urban and rural areas (4.2% each). There was no significant difference in IgG positivity between three study areas. Prevalence of T. gondii specific IgG antibodies was significantly higher amongst females of both slum (7.31%) and rural area (8.44%) as compared to the males (2.85% and 3.27% respectively) in the same areas (p<0.05) and also to females of the urban area (2.98%, p<0.05). Prevalence of IgM antibodies was significantly higher (p<0.05) in females in the slum area (10.5%) as compared to females in the urban area (2.55%). In both urban and slum areas, highest IgM seropositivity was observed in age group 6-12 years (10% and 13.3% respectively), while in the rural area the highest IgM seropositivity was seen in the age group > or = 5 years (17.7%). These data indicate that majority of children are exposed to toxoplasma before 12 years of age and particularly in rural areas higher number of subjects acquire Toxoplasma gondii infection early in childhood probably as a result of higher exposure due to farming, poor hygiene and handling of animals.
人类感染刚地弓形虫通常没有症状，或表现为轻度发热疾病。孕妇的初次感染可能导致先天性弓形虫病，而免疫功能低下的人群（如艾滋病患者）感染可能会引发潜在致命的弓形虫脑炎。在印度，仅有少数针对住院患者的研究表明弓形虫病的患病率在1.5%至21%之间。尚无涉及普通人群的实地研究。本研究调查了印度昌迪加尔联合属地农村、城市和城市贫民窟人群中弓形虫病的患病率。收集了每组500名受试者的血清样本，并使用可溶性刚地弓形虫速殖子抗原，通过传统微量酶联免疫吸附测定技术检测抗弓形虫IgM和IgG。总体而言，5.4%的受试者IgM呈阳性，而4.66%的受试者显示抗弓形虫IgG抗体。在这三组中，贫民窟地区（7.8%）显示IgM抗体的受试者数量显著高于城市和农村地区（均为4.2%）。三个研究区域之间的IgG阳性率没有显著差异。与同一地区的男性（分别为2.85%和3.27%）以及城市地区的女性（2.98%）相比，贫民窟地区（7.31%）和农村地区（8.44%）的女性中弓形虫特异性IgG抗体的患病率显著更高（p<0.05）。与城市地区的女性（2.55%）相比，贫民窟地区女性的IgM抗体患病率显著更高（p<0.05）（10.5%）。在城市和贫民窟地区，6至12岁年龄组的IgM血清阳性率最高（分别为10%和13.3%），而在农村地区，IgM血清阳性率最高出现在年龄大于或等于5岁的年龄组（17.7%）。这些数据表明，大多数儿童在12岁之前接触过弓形虫，特别是在农村地区，更多的受试者在儿童早期感染了刚地弓形虫，这可能是由于务农、卫生条件差以及接触动物等因素导致更高的暴露率。
