Retrospective Evaluation of Toxoplasma gondii Test Results in Patients Applying to A Research Hospital.

Objective: This study retrospectively evaluates our laboratory Toxoplasma gondii immunoglobulin (Ig)M, IgG antibody and avidity test results to determine the distribution of the pathogen according to sex, age, clinics and years.

Methods: The serum samples sent to Pamukkale University Healthcare Research and Practice Hospital's Medical Microbiology laboratory between January 2016 and December 2023 were evaluated for T. gondii seropositivity. Toxoplasma antibodies and avidity testing were studied using chemiluminescent microparticle immunological testing method (Abbott Architect i2000SR, Weisbaden, Germany).

Results: The study evaluated 42,817 tests ordered from patients with suspected toxoplasmosis. Five hundred-three (2.1%) were found to be anti-T. gondii-IgM positive and 4.406 (24.7%) to be anti-T. gondii-IgG positive. Anti-T. gondii-IgM and anti-T. gondii-IgG positivity were significantly higher in women than in men (p=0.0001; p=0.0001, respectively). Anti-T. gondii-IgM positivity was found to be high between the ages of 19 and 49 (p=0.0001). The anti-T. gondii-IgG positivity rate increased with age (p=0.0001). Anti-T. gondii-IgM and anti-T. gondii-IgG positivity rates have decreased significantly over the last four years (2020-2023) compared to the first four years (2016-2019) (p=0.0001; p=0.0001, respectively). When the results of 582 patients with T. gondii-avidity requests were evaluated, 38.1% of the anti-T. gondii-IgM positive patients and 7.8% of the anti-T. gondii-IgM negative patients had low avidity.

Conclusion: T. gondii seroprevalence was found to be similar to the global average, with female sex, age and nationality among the risk factors. It has also been observed that seroprevalence has significantly decreased in recent years.