Screening of toxoplasma gondii infection among childbear- ing age females and assessment of nurses'role in prevention and control of toxoplasmosis

ABSTRACT

Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular zoonotic protozoan parasite, with a worldwide distribution particularly in Arab countries including Egypt. The study evaluated toxoplasmosis infection among childbearing age Egyptian females and assessed the military nursing staff knowledge, attitude and compliance to toxoplasmosis prevention and control measures. The study was conducted in a general military hospital. Research design: cross-section descriptive research design was used to conduct this study. The subjects consisted of 14 young females [11 were in-patients undergoing gynecological treatment in a military hospital and 3 were staff nurses. On the other hand, 44 staff nurses were available for assessment who met the inclusion criteriaTools 4 tools were used for data collection first consisted of self-administered questionnaires to assess nurses' socio-demographic data and knowledge, second rating scale to assess nurses' attitude towards toxoplasmosis infection and its prevention, third performance check list to measure nurses' compliance to infection control measures, and fourth measured the anti-Toxoplasma antibodies by commercial indirect hemagglutination test [IHAT].The results showed that almost half of the nurses had satisfactory levels of knowledge, attitude, and compliance to toxoplasmosis infection control measures. 22.2% of the pregnant women and 20% of non-pregnant ones showed antibodies against T. gondii.Thus health education about toxoplasmosis should be tailored to women whether married or single to help in avoiding the risk of infection. Frequent periodic MAT should be done for people who continuously contact with cats. Adherence to strict infection prevention measures is a must to eliminate exposure to toxoplasmosis infection. Training intervention should be implemented to achieve successful improvement in knowledge, attitude, and compliance of toxoplasmosis control measures: