Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand.
Front Microbiol. 2014 Jun 11;5:291. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00291. eCollection 2014.
Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the infectious agents of congenital TORCH infections, causes severe clinical outcomes in fetus and newborns. Nevertheless this life-threatening parasitic disease is preventable by simple preventive measures related to lifestyle during pregnancy. We aim to study on the knowledge about toxoplasmosis and practices that prevents this infection among the pregnant women. Total of 2598 pregnant women from Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand were randomly surveyed to determine the knowledge and their practices on Toxoplasma infection. The questionnaire covered respondents' general information and knowledge on plausible risks factors, symptoms, timing of infection, prevention knowledge, and preventive behavior regarding Toxoplasma infection. Majority of these pregnant women were in their age group of 20-29 years (50.9%), completed secondary level of education (51.7%), in their second trimester of pregnancies (38.1%), non-parous (36.6%), and had no history of abortion (90.4%). Based on this survey, only 11% of these pregnant women had read, heard, or seen information regarding toxoplasmosis and 3.5% of them were aware of being tested for the infection. A small percentage of these pregnant women knew that T. gondii were shed in the feces of infected cats (19.4%) and sometimes found in the raw or undercooked meat (11.0%). There was 16.1% of responding women knew that toxoplasmosis is caused by an infection. Demographic profiles such as age group, level of education, pregnancy term, and number of children of the pregnant women showed significant association with their responses toward prevention knowledge and preventive behavior related questions (P < 0.05). Thus, it is suggested that health education on toxoplasmosis and primary behavioral practices should be consistently offered to reproductive age women in general and pregnant women in particular. This information could help to reduce vertical transmission of Toxoplasma infection during pregnancy.
刚地弓形虫是先天性 TORCH 感染的病原体之一，可导致胎儿和新生儿出现严重的临床后果。然而，这种危及生命的寄生虫病可以通过与怀孕期生活方式相关的简单预防措施来预防。我们旨在研究马来西亚、菲律宾和泰国的孕妇对弓形虫病的认识和预防感染的措施。共对 2598 名孕妇进行了随机调查，以确定她们对弓形虫感染的知识和实践。调查问卷涵盖了受访者的一般信息以及对可能的危险因素、症状、感染时间、预防知识和预防弓形虫感染的行为的了解。这些孕妇大多数处于 20-29 岁年龄组（50.9%），完成中学教育（51.7%），处于妊娠中期（38.1%），非初产妇（36.6%），无流产史（90.4%）。根据这项调查，只有 11%的孕妇曾阅读、听说或看过有关弓形虫病的信息，3.5%的孕妇知道自己曾接受过感染检测。这些孕妇中只有一小部分人知道感染猫会排出弓形虫（19.4%），有时也会在生肉或未煮熟的肉中发现（11.0%）。有 16.1%的孕妇知道弓形虫病是由感染引起的。孕妇的年龄组、教育水平、妊娠阶段和子女数量等人口统计学特征与她们对预防知识和预防行为相关问题的回答有显著关联（P<0.05）。因此，建议向育龄妇女，特别是孕妇，持续提供有关弓形虫病的健康教育和初级行为实践。这些信息有助于减少怀孕期间弓形虫垂直传播。
