Seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma IgGand IgM among individuals who werereferred to medical laboratories inMazandaran province, northern Iran

ABSTRACT

Toxoplasma gondii [T. gondii] is a protozoan parasite that can causetoxoplasmosis in humans. However, there is no current data regarding Toxoplasmainfection among individuals who were referred to medical laboratories in Mazan-daran province [northern Iran]. Therefore, we performed a population-based studyof Toxoplasma seroprevalence in this region. A total of 1832 sera samples [from654 men and 1178 women] were collected from people who were referred to medi-cal laboratories in different cities throughout Mazandaran province between Marchand July 2012. The serum titers of anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM were measured usingenzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma IgGwas 55.5%; and 14.4% of the positive samples were seropositive for anti-ToxoplasmaIgM. The highest seroprevalence was observed among people who were >50 yearsold [90.6%], and the lowest seroprevalence was observed among children who were 0-9 years old [9.4%; P < 0.001]. There was no significant difference in the sero-prevalences for each sex in the study population. However, a regional sex-specific difference in seroprevalence was observed between men [54.1%] and women [70.6%;P = 0.003] in the western cities of Mazandaran. As the seroprevalence of T. gondii inwestern and eastern Mazandaran was higher than that in the central cities, there is aneed to evaluate the nature of the infection chain in these areas