Toxoplasma antibody prevalence in Nepalese pregnant women and women with bad obstetric history.
Sera from randomly selected 345 pregnant Nepalese women aged 16-36 years and 13 women with bad obstetric history (BOH) were tested for the presence of Toxoplasma antibodies using microlatex agglutination (MLA) and ELISA methods. The overall prevalence was 55.4% (191/345). Prevalence was slightly higher (59.0%) in older age-group (27-36 years) compared with younger age-group (16-26 years) (52.2%). No significant difference in antibody prevalence in women belonging to two different ethnic-groups (Tibeto-Burmans 57.8%, Indo-Aryans 52.7%) was observed (p>0.05). MLA antibody titer ranged from 1:16 to 1:2,048. Over three-fourth of the women showed either high (1:510 or over) or low (1:16 or 1:32) antibody titer. Three percent (6/191) of MLA antibody positive subjects had Toxoplasma IgM antibodies by IgM-ELISA. All six IgM antibody positive pregnant women had MLA antibody titer of over 1:510. Of the total 13 women with BOH, 5 (38.5%) had Toxoplasma antibodies of which 2 (40.0%) were positive for Toxoplasma-IgM antibodies.
Rai
S K
SK
Department of Medical Zoology, Faculty of Medicine Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.
Shibata
H
H
Sumi
K
K
Rai
G
G
Rai
N
N
Manandhar
R
R
Gurung
G
G
Ono
K
K
Uga
S
S
Matsuoka
A
A
Shrestha
H G
HG
Matsumura
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000276:immunology; D017584:Reproductive History; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan