Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in HIV and non-HIV infected Thai pregnant women

Abstract

Serological evidence for Toxoplasma gondii infection in Thai pregnant women was investigated. One thousand six hundred and sixtynine blood specimens were collected from 838 HIV-seropositive and 831 HIV-seronegative pregnant women attending the antenatal-care clinic at Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, during a two-year period. Toxoplasma IgG antibody was detected, using a solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in which the membrane protein p-30 was the predominant antigen. IgG positive sera were subsequently examined for IgM antibody by the capture antibody enzyme immunoassay. The IgG antibody was found in 450 (53.7%) HIV seropositive women and 44 (5.3%) non-HIV infected women, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001). Three of the 450 HIV-seropositive and 2 of the 44 HIV-seronegative sera with IgG antibody were positive for IgM antibody against T. gondii. This result suggested that HIV seropositive pregnant women had a higher risk of Toxoplasma infection with increase exposure to their offspring.