toxoplasmosis in pregnant women and non-pregnant female volunteers in port harcourt, rivers state, nigeria

Background: toxoplasmosis is caused by toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan parasite, and is among the diseases generally referred to as neglected tropical disease (ntd). it can be a reason for impulsive abortion in pregnant women or hereditary chorioretinitis in neonates. objectives: the present study examined seroprevalence and related risk issues of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women (ptw) and non-pregnant females (npf) of two health facilities in port harcourt. methods: venous blood was collected from 380 women and analyzed by immunodiagnostic techniques using elisa (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) igg and igm tests and real-time polymerase chain reaction (pcr). data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire on the socio-demographic risk issues linked with toxoplasmosis. results: among the study population, ptw and npf had seroprevalence of 33.0% and 19.4%, respectively (p < 0.05). ptw recorded a higher overall seroprevalence than npf with 16.1%, 1.3%, and 8.4%, 0.8% for toxoplasma gondii elisa igg, and igm tests, respectively. igm-positive cases were all authenticated by the real-time pcr technique and were all negative. age group 35-39 years had the highest igg seroprevalence of 24.3% for ptw, while the age group > 40 years had the highest igg seroprevalence of 18.2% for npf. traders recorded the uppermost seroprevalence of 20.9% and 2.6% for igg and igm among ptw, respectively, while teachers and traders recorded the maximum seroprevalence of 15.6% and 1.7% for igg and igm among npf, respectively. statistical analysis showed that there was no association between the age group, occupation, trimester, and toxoplasmosis. conclusions: the toxoplasmosis was significantly high in pregnant women. it is recommended that toxoplasma gondii tests should be included as a routine test during antenatal.