Pattern of antibodies in toxoplasmosis of pregnant women and their children in Thailand.

ABSTRACT

The latex agglutination test for toxoplasmosis was performed on 690 blood samples collected from the Veterans and Bang Bua Thong Hospitals in Bangkok. Blood samples were collected in the first- and the third-trimester from pregnant women and from the cord blood. The seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in the first trimester was 13.14%, 13.60%; in the third trimester was 12.21%, 9.43% and in the cord blood 7.18% and 13.04% for the Veterans Hospital and Bang Bua Thong Hospital, respectively. There was no significant difference between the prevalence of toxoplasmosis for each type of blood from both hospitals. The average prevalence of toxoplasmosis for Thai pregnant women in the first- and third-trimester was 13.38% and 11.41%, respectively, and that for the cord blood was 9.01%. Congenital toxoplasmosis occurred in children of untreated mothers who were seropositive or seronegative in the third-trimester, the infection rates of the fetus being 46.67% and 8.13% respectively.