Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis and associated risk factors in pregnant women at the Protestant Hospital, Mbouo-Bandjoun, Cameroon

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a common worldwide infection caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. In Cameroon, several recent studies have reported high seroprevalence of this parasitosis in various hospitals (Douala, Limbe, Njinikom and Yaoundé). The aim of this study was to determine whether this high prevalence of toxoplasmosis might occur in other regions of the country. Methodology: Serological tests by the indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for IgG and IgM were carried out on 200 pregnant women (36 HIV-positive and 164 HIV-negative) at the Protestant Hospital of Mbouo-Bandjoun in western Cameroon to determine the presence of Toxoplasma gondii infection and to identify the risk factors associated with seropositivity of the subjects. Results: The overall seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies was 45.5%. The prevalence rate was 80.5% in the HIV-positive group (47.2% IgG, 22.2% IgM and 11.1% IgG + IgM) and 37.8% in the HIV-negative group (25.6%, 9.7% and 2.4% respectively). Using a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the secondary level of educational, presence of HIV infection, and frequency of close contacts with cats were significantly associated with the prevalence of IgG and/or IgM antibodies. Conclusion: Compared with previous reports of human toxoplasmosis in Cameroon, the prevalence in our study showed a decrease in the disease occurrence. Further studies are needed to determine whether this decrease is localised to our study or a general phenomenon currently affecting the country

Analysis of toxoplasma gondii proteins after Triton X-114 solubilization and hidropholic chromotograhy

A distribuiçäo das proteínas superficiais de Toxoplasma gondii radiodinadas, foram estudadas usando a técnica de separaçäo de fases e a capacidade de ligaçäo em coluna de fenil-Sepharose. Oito polipeptídeos com peso molecular entre 22 e 180.000 distribuíram-se exclusivamente na fase rica em detergente enquanto seis polipeptídeos com PM entre 15.00 e 76.000 distribuíram-se exclusivamente na fase pobre em detergente. Dois polipeptídeos com 15.00 e 70.000 distribuem-se em ambas as fases. Todos os polipeptídeos presentes na fase rica em detergente foram retidos por coluna de fenil-Sepharose e isolados em dois picos de acordo com sua hidrofobicidade relativa