Anahita Bavand; Arezoo Aghakhani; Minoo Mohraz; Mohammad Banifazl; Afsaneh Karami; Majid Golkar; Jalal Babaie; Parviz Saleh; Setareh Mamishi; Amitis Ramezani
Abstract
Background & Objective: Toxoplasma gondii infection has public health importance and can lead to serious diseases in immunosuppressed patients, such as HIV cases. Appropriate control of T. gondii infection in HIV patients requires information about the prevalence of T. gondii antibodies and DNA in ...
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Background & Objective: Toxoplasma gondii infection has public health importance and can lead to serious diseases in immunosuppressed patients, such as HIV cases. Appropriate control of T. gondii infection in HIV patients requires information about the prevalence of T. gondii antibodies and DNA in different population. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies and DNA in HIV patients in Tehran, Iran.Methods: A total of 149 HIV patients from the Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Tehran, Iran were enrolled in the study. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM were detected by ELISA and T. gondii DNA was evaluated by PCR and quantitative real-time PCR. IgG positive samples were also assessed for their avidity. Results: Anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM were positive in 46.3% and 2.7% of cases respectively. 92.7% of our patients showed past infection and 4.3% revealed recently acquired toxoplasmosis based on their IgG avidity test. T. gondii DNA was not detected by PCR but real-time PCR results showed DNA in 4.7% of total patients and 13.1% of the IgG seropositive cases.Conclusion: Our findings indicated that latent toxoplasmosis was relatively prevalent in our study population, but new T. gondii infection had low prevalence. Almost half of our patients were IgG negative and at risk of acquiring toxoplasma infection. Low copy numbers of DNA were detected in 4.7% of the cases without any clinical manifestation. Therefore, detection and monitoring of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies and DNA in HIV patients is substantial to estimate the risk of reactivation and new infection.
Reza Shafiei; Zahra Riazi; Mohamdreza Sarvghad; Mysam Galian Sharifdini; Abbas Mahmoodzadeh; Massoud Hajia
Volume 6, Issue 2 , April 2011, , Pages 68-72
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Toxoplasmosis has become one of the more frequent opportunistic infections and the most common cause of focal brain lesions complicating the course of AIDS. However, there is a little information about the frequency of the toxoplasmosis in various regions of Iran. At ...
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Background and Objectives: Toxoplasmosis has become one of the more frequent opportunistic infections and the most common cause of focal brain lesions complicating the course of AIDS. However, there is a little information about the frequency of the toxoplasmosis in various regions of Iran. At the present study, we evaluated the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in patients with AIDS in Mashhasd (Northeast Iran). Material and Methods: Overall, 258 suspected patients with CD4+ T-cell count and clinical manifestation for HIV infection were referred from Infectious Disease Center to Imam Reza Hospital in 2009. These patients were examined by ELISA, western blot method and tested by P24 antigen. HIV positive patients (n=121) were entered in this cross-sectional study and investigated for IgG and IgM anti- Toxoplasma antibodies with ELISA. Results: The mean age of the patients was 35.83 + 6.75 yr. 83.5% of the patients were intravenous drug misuse. The IgG anti-Toxoplasma antibodies were positive in 46 (38.01%) patients, while IgM antibody was detected in 3 cases (2.5%). Conclusion: The rate of toxoplasmosis infection in HIV positive patients is high. Therefore, immediate treatment of these patients is essential in rising specific antibody cases that may cause toxoplasmic encephalitis resulting from its reactivation.