IgG Avidity Test as a Tool for Discrimination between Recent and Distant Infection-Current Status of Studies.

, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, is the causative agent of one of the most prevalent zoonoses worldwide. infection is extremely important from a medical point of view, especially for pregnant women, newborns with congenital infections, and immunocompromised individuals. Thus, an accurate and proper diagnosis of this infection is essential. Among the available diagnostic tests, serology is commonly used. However, traditional serological techniques have certain limitations in evaluating the duration of infection, which is problematic, especially for pregnant women. Avidity of -specific IgG antibodies seems to be a significant tool for discrimination between recent and distant infections. This article describes the problem of diagnosis of infection, with regard to IgG avidity tests. The IgG avidity test is a useful serological indicator of toxoplasmosis, which in many cases can confirm or exclude the active form of the disease. IgG antibodies produced in the recent primary infection are of low avidity while IgG antibodies with high avidity are detected in the chronic phase of infection. Furthermore, this paper presents important topics of current research that concern the usage of parasite recombinant antigens that may improve the performance of IgG avidity tests.