A maternal screening program for congenital toxoplasmosis in Quindio, Colombia and application of mathematical models to estimate incidences using age-stratified data.
We studied 937 pregnant women from Quindio, Colombia for the presence of specific anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies using the indirect immunofluorescence antibody technique (IFAT-IgG). Specific anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies detected using the immunosorbent agglutination assay (ISAgA-IgM) were investigated in patients with high titers in the IFAT-IgG (dilutions > or = 1:1,024). We used mathematical models based on the age prevalence results of the IFAT-IgG to estimate the number of seroconversions and these were compared with the results predicted by the IgM based-incidence results. We found 15 positive cases by ISAgA-IgM and we were able to follow the children of six mothers from this group in which we found one case of congenital toxoplasmosis with the development of a retinal scar despite prenatal and postnatal treatment. The estimation of new cases for the annual total of pregnancies (approximately 8,000) in the Quindio region was 30-120 according to the ISAgA-IgM results and 57-85 using mathematical models. Thus, mathematical models based on age prevalence can give useful estimations of the magnitude of the problem.
Gomez-Marin
J E
JE
Centro de Investigaciones Manuel Elkin Patarroyo, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Quindio, Armenia, Colombia.
Montoya-de-Londono
M T
MT
Castano-Osorio
J C
JC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis; D002648:Child; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016014:Linear Models; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000469:parasitology; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology; D014125:Toxoplasmosis, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M