[Risk factors for toxoplasmosis in children].
BACKGROUND
The risk factors for human toxoplasmosis infection are numerous. The purpose of this work is to recognize these risk factors in childhood.


METHODS
A total of 727 children was prospective studied ranged in age from 2 to 14 years. In all children Toxoplasma-specific antibodies was investigated and we make an epidemiological questionnaire about risk factors of toxoplasmosis: house, school, contact with cats and food. The prevalence of antibodies is analyzed and an univariate, and multivariate analysis is performed.


RESULTS
The overall prevalence is 42.8%, 27.9% in 2-years-old children and 58.1% in 14-years-old children. The univariate analysis is statistically significant in females, ground-floor house without backyard, no urbanized house, domestic cat, cat in another home which is frequently visited, children under 4-years-old playing with cat, cat close to ground-floor house without backyard. In our study, ground-floor house without backyard equals to no urbanized house (OR: 49.5). This house showed a strong association with cat close to the house (OR: 6.9). The best model of logistical regression that adjusts with our data was domestic cat (OR: 1.6), cat in another home (OR: 1.5), female (OR: 1.7), no urbanized house (OR: 2.2) and children over 7-years-old (OR: 1.7).


CONCLUSIONS
In our study, the prevalence of Toxoplasma-specific antibodies is high. The risk factors that we found are associated with contact with cat, female and children over 7-years-old. The only house that showed significance was no urbanized house, associated with cat close to the house.
Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Infantil La Paz.
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F
del Castillo
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Herruzo
D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission; D002415:Cats / Q000469:parasitology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000469:parasitology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012987:Soil / Q000469:parasitology; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000635:transmission; D014675:Vegetables / Q000469:parasitology; D015047:Zoonoses
D012987:Soil