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Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in the Portuguese population: comparison of three cross-sectional studies spanning three decades

2016; BMJ; Volume: 6; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011648

2044-6055

Maria João Gargaté, Idalina Ferreira, Anabela Vilares, Susana Martins, Carlos Cardoso, Susana Pereira Silva, Baltazar Nunes, João Paulo Gomes,

Herpesvirus Infections and Treatments

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan infecting up to one-third of the world's population, constituting a life threat if transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy. In Portugal, there is a lack of knowledge of the current epidemiological situation, as the unique toxoplasmosis National Serological Survey was performed in 1979/1980.We studied the seroprevalence trends in the Portuguese general population over the past 3 decades, by assessing chronological spread cross-sectional studies, with special focus on women of childbearing age, by age group, region and gender.The T. gondii overall seroprevalence decreased from 47% in 1979/1980 to 22% (95% CI 20% to 24%) in 2013. Generally, we observed that the prevalence of T. gondii IgG increased significantly with age and it decreased over time, both in the general population and in the childbearing women (18% prevalence in 2013).The scenario observed for the latter indicates that more than 80% of childbearing women are susceptible to primary infection yielding a risk of congenital toxoplasmosis and respective sequelae. Since there is no vaccine to prevent human toxoplasmosis, the improvement of primary prevention constitutes a major tool to avoid infection in such susceptible groups.