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Toxoplasma gondii, HCV, and HBV seroprevalence and co‐infection among HIV‐positive and ‐negative pregnant women in Burkina Faso
Author(s) -
Simpore Jacques,
Savadogo Aly,
Ilboudo Denise,
Nadambega Marie Christelle,
Esposito Maria,
Yara Justine,
Pignatelli Salvatore,
Pietra Virginio,
Musumeci Salvatore
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.20615
Subject(s) - serostatus , toxoplasma gondii , medicine , seroprevalence , transmission (telecommunications) , virology , sexual transmission , immunology , hepatitis c , hepatitis b virus , pregnancy , hepatitis b , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , antibody , obstetrics , serology , viral load , biology , virus , microbicide , electrical engineering , genetics , engineering
Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infections can cause serious complications in HIV‐infected pregnant women, leading to miscarriage, stillbirth, birth defects (e.g., mental retardation, blindness, epilepsy etc.) and could favor or enhance the mother‐to‐child transmission of HCV, HBV, and HIV vertical transmission. From May 20, 2004 to August 3, 2005, 336 18–45 years aged pregnant women, were enrolled for an investigation of the prevalence of serum antibodies against T. gondii, HCV, HBV, and HIV using ELISA. The prevalence of T. gondii, HCV, and HBV in pregnant women was 25.3%, 5.4%, and 9.8%, respectively and the HIV serostatus (61.6%) seems to be associated with greater prevalence rates of both T. gondii (28.5% vs. 20.2%) and HBV (11.6% vs. 7.0%). Without taking into account HIV, only 65.5% (220 of 336) of the women were not infected with these agents. The co‐infection rate between HIV‐infected and ‐negative women was different statistically: T. gondii/HBV 0.048 versus 0.015, T. gondii/HCV 0.014 versus 0.008, and HCV/HBV 0.005 versus 0.008, respectively. The elevated co‐infection rate in HIV‐positive women demonstrated that they are exposed to T. gondii, HCV, and HBV infections prevalently by sexual contact. J. Med. Virol. 78:730–733, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.