An outbreak of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women in northern Québec.
An ongoing screening program for toxoplasmosis identified a cluster of four women from northern Québec who, over a 4-month period, seroconverted during their pregnancy. An epidemiologic investigation was carried out in an attempt to identify the source of this infection. All potential risk factors were assessed by a questionnaire administered to 22 Inuit women who had delivered babies in the previous year. Seroconversion was significantly associated with skinning of animals for fur (P = .015) and frequent consumption of caribou meat (P = .034). Compared to seronegative women, women who were seropositive were more than four times more likely to have eaten dried seal meat (P = .067), more than six times more likely to have eaten seal liver (P = .064), and more than eight times more likely to have consumed raw caribou meat more than once per week (P = .054). These observations have contributed to the development of guidelines for the prevention of toxoplasmosis in seronegative pregnant women in this arctic region.
McDonald
J C
JC
Department of Pediatrics, Montreal Children's, Hospital McGill University, Quebec, Canada.
Gyorkos
T W
TW
Alberton
B
B
MacLean
J D
JD
Richer
G
G
Juranek
D
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis; D001110:Arctic Regions; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008460:Meat; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012053:Reindeer; D012307:Risk Factors; D046048:Seals, Earless; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan