[Prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Pointe-Noire in Congo. Study of the sampling of 310 subjects].

The prevalence of toxoplasma antibodies was studied in 310 individuals in the city of Pointe-Noire in Congo. The age ranged from 1 to 50 years. The seroprevalence in this study population was 41.9%. Seroprevalence increase with age until 20 years of age, indicating that infection is acquired early in life. Because the seroprevalence did not significantly increase after 20 years of age, we postulate that acquisition of infection is acquired via contact/ingestion of soil contaminated with oocysts rather than via ingestion of undercooked meat containing toxoplasma cysts. No differences were observed in seroprevalence between the sexes and between the different ethnic groups analysed. However, significant differences in the seroprevalence were observed in individuals originated from different regions of the Congo. These high prevalence rates noted in this study also alerts physicians on the risk of reactivation of chronic toxoplasma infection in the immunocompromised patients in particular those coinfected with HIV.