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Objective To understand the status of Toxoplasma gondii infections and the awareness of toxoplasmosis preven-tion and control knowledge among high-risk populations in Hangzhou City. Methods The serum anti-T. gondii antibodies were detected in 100 HIV/AIDS patients,100 cancer patients,100 pregnant women and 100 healthy controls,and the awareness of toxoplasmosis prevention and control knowledge was investigated using a questionnaire. Results The sero-prevalence of T. gon-dii infection was 31％,30％and 21％in HIV/AIDS patients,cancer patients and pregnant women,which was all significantly higher than in healthy controls(χ2 =14.68, 13.96 and 7.56,all P values<0.01). The pregnant women had a high awareness rate of toxoplasmosis prevention and control knowledge,and the healthy controls had a low awareness rate. In addition,the sub-jects had a low awareness rate regarding the questions including"Do you know the damages of Toxoplasma gondii infections?","Do you know that consumption of raw or uncooked meat may cause Toxoplasma gondii infections?",and"Do you know that con-tact with contaminated soil may cause Toxoplasma gondii infections?". Conclusions The sero-prevalence of T. gondii infection is high among the high-risk populations in Hangzhou City,including the HIV/AIDS patients,cancer patients and pregnant wom-en,and these high-risk populations have a low awareness rate of some toxoplasmosis prevention and control knowledge. There-fore,it is essential to improve the health education of toxoplasmosis prevention and control knowledge among the high-risk popu-lations,so as to effectively prevent and control human T. gondii infections.
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Objective To investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection and awareness of toxoplasmosis?related knowledge among women with poor pregnant outcomes in Wuxi City. Methods A total of 217 women with poor pregnant out?comes from Wuxi City during the period of January 2011 to December 2015 were randomly selected as the study subjects( a study group),while 250 women with normal pregnancy were served as controls(a control group). The sero?prevalence of T. gon?dii infection was detected by using ELISA and compared between the study and control groups. The awareness of toxoplasmosis?related knowledge was investigated by using a self?designed questionnaire and compared between the study and control groups. Results The positive rate of anti?Toxoplasma antibody was 30.88%in the study group,which was significantly higher than that (8.8%)in the control group(χ2 =36.7,P0.05). Conclusions This study demonstrates higher prevalence of T. gondii infection in women with poor pregnant out?comes than in those with normal pregnancy in Wuxi City. Considering the harm of T. gondii infection during pregnancy and the low awareness of toxoplasmosis?related knowledge in pregnant women,the health education of toxoplasmosis?related knowledge should be strengthened,especially for pregnant women,so as to reduce the prevalence of T. gondii infection among pregnant women to improve the better child?bearing and rearing level.
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Objective To study the sero-epidemiology of pertussis immunity and related factors among the community-based populations in Tianjin.Methods Antibodies to pertussis toxin immunoglobulin and IgG (PT-IgG) levels among the community-based populations were examined,using ELISA over the three consecutive years.Subjects that were older than 4 years of age,with concentration of anti-PT-IgG higher than 40 IU/ml were recognized as having recent Bordetella (B.) pertussis infection.Results Of the 1 825 study subjects,the average positive rate of anti-PT-IgG was 10.96％.The highest rate appeared as 24.37％-13.61％ among the 0-3 year-olds (P＜0.001).The positive rate was 8.84％,and the estimated incidence of recent infection became 10 852 per 100 000 among those age 4-83 year-olds.Peak of the estimated incidence rate of recent infection was 18 986 per 100 000 in the age group of 51-83 year-olds (P=0.001),but increasing linearly along with the increase of age (r=0.976,P＜0.001).There were statistically significant differences seen in the antibody positive rate of 3-year period of study (P=0.001),and appeared linear correlation with the reported annual incidence (r =0.992,P＜ 0.001).There were statistically significant differences in the antibody positive rates of the 3 monitoring areas (P=0.034),also showing a linear correlation with the reported annual incidence (r=0.996,P＜0.001).Conclusion Results from this study indicated that B.pertussis infection had been common,particularly in adults living in the communities in Tianjin,calling for the current pertussis immunization strategy to be improved in order to control the pertussis reemerge in China.
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Background & objectives: Leptospirosis, a spirochetal zoonosis, is underreported from the northern States of India. This study reports results of a 10-year retrospective sero-epidemiological survey of leptospirosis conducted in a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India. Method: A total of 1453 patients clinically suspected for leptospirosis were included and investigated initially by IgM ELISA. A proportion of these were subjected to culture, microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Of the 1453 patients, 391 (26.90%) were positive serologically by IgM ELISA. Seropositive and seronegative patients revealed no significant difference in clinical features and laboratory parameters. Amongst the IgM seropositive cases, culture for leptospires was positive in 5 of 192 (2.6%), MAT in 50 of 138 (36.23%), PCR from blood and urine in 10 of 115 (8.7%) and 10 of 38 (26.31%) cases, respectively. In Leptospira spp. positive patients co-infections with viral hepatitis E, malaria and dengue fever were diagnosed in 27 cases. Interpretation & conclusions: The overall seropositivity for leptospirosis was 26.9 per cent in our study. A decreasing trend in seropositivity was observed in recent years. Co-infections with malaria, dengue, hepatitis A and E were also seen. Since leptospirosis is a treatable disease, correct and rapid diagnosis may help in effective management of patients.
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Objective To better understand and measure the status of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, we conducted a sero-epidemiological study using the remaining blood samples and data of the nationwide survey of hepatitis B in Chinese residents which was carried out in 2006.Methods The anti-HCV reagent was screened out from the reagents by the HCV infection blood serum plate with anti-HCV positives or negatives. This plate recognized the Murex 3.0 and Ortho 3.0 reagents as gold standards. Anti-HCV in the blood samples were tested using this reagent and confirmed by Chiron HCV RIBA 3.0 reagents. Results Among the population aged 1 year to 59 year-olds, the overall prevalence rate of anti-HCV was 0.43％ (95％CI: 0.33％-0.53％ ), with the rates of anti-HCV among males and females as 0.46％ and 0.40％, respectively. The prevalence rate of anti-HCV in urban area was 0.43％,and in rural area it was 0.43％. The prevalence rate of anti-HCV in the Eastern, Middle and Western areas were 0.37％ (95％ CI: 0.21％-0.53％ ) , 0.67％ (95％ CI: 0.40％-0.94％ ) and 0.31％ (95％CI: 0.20％-0.42％ ) respectively. The prevalence rates of anti-HCV for the three areas did not show significant differences, statistically. The prevalence rate of anti-HCV in the South and North areas were 0.29％(95％CI:0.21％-0.52％) and 0.53％ (95％CI:0.38％-0.64％)respectively. Conclusion Our data revealed that China was in the low prevalence area for hepatitis C infection and the results also suggested that the comprehensive measures for HCV control and prevention had been successfully achieved in the country.
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Objective To investigate the seroprevalence of tick-borne diseases in humans and domestic animals from rural areas of Zhejiang province. Methods Anji county, Jindong district and Tiantai county were selected for samples collection according to their geographic locations and historical prevalence of tick-borne diseases. Blood samples of humans and domestic animals were collected in the three sites. An indirect immuno-fluorescent antibody test was used to determine the presence of IgG antibodies of Rickettsiae heilongjiangii, Orientia tsutsugamushi, R. typhi, Anaplasma phagocytos, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Bartonella, R. hainan and Coxiella burnetii in these samples.Results Six hundred and eighty-three blood samples including 579 from humans and 104 from domestic animals(53 from cattles and 51 from sheep)were collected from the three sites. Antibody positive rates of Orientia tsutsugamushi, R. typhi, Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Coxiella burnetii were significantly different between these sites. IgG from all the 8 pathogens were detected in samples from humans. It was found that the sero-prevalence rates of R. typhi, Bartonella and C. burnetii(20.7%,10.9%, 5.5%)of adults were higher than those of other Rickettsiae under investigation. The seroprevalence of R. typhi increased along with age. IgG from the 7 pathogens were detected in samples from domestic animals except for Anaplasma phagocytos. The sero-prevalence rates of R. typhi, Bartonella and R. hainan(69.2%, 51.0%, 22.1%)of adults were higher than those of other Rickettsiae investigated. Conclusion Tick-borne diseases did spread widely in humans and domestic animals from different rural areas of Zhejiang province. The sero-prevalence rates of R. typhi,B. henselae, R. hainan and C. burnetii were higher than that from other pathogens.