ABSTRACT
Toxoplasmosis is considered as an important risk factor for bad obstetric history (BOH) and one of the major causes of congenitally acquired infections. The present study aimed to estimate the seropositivity of T. gondii infection and associated risk factors among the attendees of high risk pregnancy and low risk antenatal care clinic of Minia Maternity and Pediatric University Hospital, Minia, Egypt. The study was carried out from April 2013 to April 2014 through 2 phases, the first phase was case-control study, and the second phase was follow-up with intervention. A total of 120 high risk pregnant and 120 normal pregnant females were submitted to clinical examinations, serological screening for anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA, and an interview questionnaire. Seropositive cases were subjected to spiramycin course treatment. The results showed that the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in high-risk pregnancy group was 50.8%, which was significantly different from that of normal pregnancy group (P<0.05). Analysis of seropositive women in relation to BOH showed that abortion was the commonest form of the pregnancy wastage (56.5%). The high prevalence of T. gondii seropositive cases was observed in the age group of 21-30 years. Post-delivery adverse outcome was observed in 80.3% of high-risk pregnancy group compared to 20% of normal pregnancy group. There was a statistically significant relationship between seropositivity and living in rural area, low socioeconomic level, and undercooked meat consumption (P<0.05). Serological screening for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies should be routine tests especially among high-risk pregnant women.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Pregnancy , Young Adult , Antibodies, Protozoan/blood , Case-Control Studies , Egypt , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Feeding Behavior , Follow-Up Studies , Hospitals, University , Immunoglobulin G/blood , Immunoglobulin M/blood , Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/epidemiology , Risk Factors , Rural Population , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and Questionnaires , Toxoplasma/immunology , Toxoplasmosis/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Several biological and immunological methods have been used for detection of ETEC. In this work a comparative study was done between staph-co- agglutination and latex agglutination. From the 75 faecal samples collected from infants and children having acute diarrhea, the total number of E. Coli strains isolated were 64. Out of these 64 strains, 6 strains were found to be positive for Labile Toxin [LT] production by both latex agglutination and staphylococcal co-agglutination test. However, another 3 strains which were negative by latex agglutination were found to be positive by staph co-agglutination test. The latex agglutination test was found to be simple, easy and rapid However this test was less sensitive in detection of ETEC. The staph-co-agglutination was also found to be simple, easy but it takes longer time [14 days]. It was concluded that both tests are simple, inexpensive to perform and can be used for rapid detection of ETEC