Seroprevalence of human Toxoplasma gondii infection among pregnant women in Charsadda, KP, Pakistan.

Toxoplasmosis is a very common and asymptomatic infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Pregnant women can develop serious complications if the infection passes to the developing fetus. Primary infection in the pregnant women during the gestation period will result in the development of severe systemic disease with temporary parasitemia and will affect the developing fetus. Several clinical complications can be observed in the congenitally infected children which include mild disease to serious health defects such as mental retardation. The aim of the current study was to determine the seroprevalence among pregnant women in District Charsadda, KP, Pakistan. From various maternity homes and other health care centers 200 random samples were collected. Serum was extracted from the blood and was subjected to the specific serological technique by using Latex Agglutination Kit. Out of 200 random samples collected from pregnant women, 69 (34.5%) were detected positive for the parasite and the remaining 131 (65.5%) were found negative. The seroprevalence of the parasite was also determined in the pregnant women based on various age groups. The infection was more prevalent in the age group of 26-40 years with a total of 54.55% of the total studied population while low seroprevalence of the parasite was recorded in the age group 41-55 years with about 21.87%. However, the age group 15-25 years showed a moderate infection of about 23.63%. Abnormalities were also observed in the newborns of the pregnant women infected with the parasite. From Charsadda 76.1%, 45.1% from Tangi and 72.1% babies from tehsil Shabqadar were born with congenital abnormalities. With proper health care, development and utilization of effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies the epidemics of the infection can be significantly reduced. The routine serological test is recommended for all the pregnant women.