title: Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women in a public hospital in northern Mexico.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in pregnant women represents a risk for congenital disease. There is scarce information about the epidemiology of T. gondii infection in pregnant women in Mexico. Therefore, we sought to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection and associated socio-demographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics in a population of pregnant women of Durango City, Mexico.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and forty three women seeking prenatal care in a public hospital of Durango City in Mexico were examined for T. gondii infection. All women were tested for anti-T. gondii IgM and IgG antibodies by using IMx Toxo IgM and IMx Toxo IgG 2.0 kits (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL, USA), respectively. Socio-demographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics from each participant were also obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty one out of the 343 (6.1%) women had IgG anti-T. gondii antibodies. None of the 343 women had IgM anti-T. gondii antibodies. Multivariate analysis using logic regression showed that T. gondii infection was associated with living in a house with soil floor (adjusted OR = 7.16; 95% CI: 1.39-36.84), residing outside of Durango State (adjusted OR = 4.25; 95% CI: 1.72-10.49), and turkey meat consumption (adjusted OR = 3.85; 95% CI: 1.30-11.44). Other characteristics as cat contact, gardening, and food preferences did not show any association with T. gondii infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of T. gondii infection in pregnant women of Durango City is low as compared with those reported in other regions of Mexico and the majority of other countries. Poor housing conditions as soil floors, residing in other Mexican States, and turkey meat consumption might contribute to acquire T. gondii infection.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Juárez University of Durango State (UJED), Durango, Mexico. alvaradocosme@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Cosme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alvarado-Esquivel
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sifuentes-Alvarez
authors.forename: Sergio Guadalupe
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Narro-Duarte
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Estrada-Martínez
authors.forename: Juan Humberto
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Díaz-García
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Liesenfeld
authors.forename: Sergio Arturo
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Martínez-García
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Canales-Molina
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008461:Meat Products / Q000469:parasitology; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G