Open AccessDo we need to screen Egyptian voluntary blood donors for toxoplasmosis?
Author(s) -
Nagwa Mostafa ElSayed,
Maha Mohamed Abdel-Wahab,
Shereen Kishik,
Naglaa F. Alhusseini
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asian pacific journal of tropical disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.208
H-Index - 33
ISSN - 2222-1808
DOI - 10.1016/s2222-1808(15)61027-1
Subject(s) - parasitemia , toxoplasma gondii , toxoplasmosis , medicine , antibody , asymptomatic , immunology , malaria , plasmodium falciparum
Objective: To determine the value of voluntary blood donors screening in diagnosing\udasymptomatic toxoplasmosis in an attempt to reduce the risk of this infection in Egyptian\udimmunocompromised recipients.\udMethods: Serum samples from 300 healthy voluntary blood donors were analyzed for antiToxoplasma antibodies [immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM)] using ELISA\udand detection of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasitemia was done by real-time quantitative\udPCR (qrtPCR).\udResults: Frequency of T. gondii infection in 300 healthy blood donors was 101 (33.67%), 10\ud(3.33%), 18 (6.00%) by ELISA IgG, IgM and qrtPCR, respectively. It was found that 8 of 18\ud(44.4%) donor samples positive by qrtPCR contained IgM anti-T. gondii, conversely 8 of 10\ud(80%) IgM-positive samples were positive for T. gondii DNA. There was a highly significant\udincrease in detection of recent Toxoplasma infection using PCR over IgM ELISA by 55.6%.\udAt the same time, T. gondii parasitemia was detected in 11 of 101 (10.90%) donor samples\udpositive by IgG ELISA and in 7 of 199 (3.50%) negative donor samples for anti-T. gondii IgG\udantibodies. On the other hand, the negative results obtained by both qrtPCR and ELISA in 192\ud(64%) subjects ruled out the infection in those donors.\udConclusions: It might be appropriate to include the screening of blood and blood products for T.\udgondii in the pre-transfusion blood testing schedule in Egypt. Also, molecular screening should\udbe carried out on the blood being transfused to immunocompromised patients