2025/12/31 by Stela B. C. Sousa, Cláudia D. M. Mangueira, Sandro Estevan Moron +17 · 1 voice
Immunology and Microbiology · #Leptospirosis research and findings #Parasitic Infections and Diagnostics #Toxoplasma gondii Research Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/tropicalmed11010013
openalex created_date 2025/12/31 · openalex publication_date 2025/12/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Objective: To determine the prevalence of and risk factors for congenital toxoplasmosis in neonates treated in the public health network of the eastern region of the Brazilian Amazon, northern Tocantins state. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted with neonates born to mothers with gestational toxoplasmosis who received care between 2017 and 2024. The outcome under analysis was positivity for immunoglobulin M in the electrochemiluminescence assay (CLIA). We estimated the prevalence of transplacental infection and respective 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) and its association with risk factors using the odds ratio (or) with a p-value < 0.05 in infected neonates before and after 16 gestational weeks at maternal infection diagnosis. Results: A total of 1142 neonates were surveyed, in which 496 were diagnosed with congenital toxoplasmosis (IgM positive), thus obtaining a prevalence of vertical transmission of 45.4%. The main risk factors for vertical transmission were the mother’s education level equal to or less than eight years, (OR = 1.5; 95% CI 1.2; 2.0) and having less than six prenatal consultations (OR = 22.8; 95% CI 3.0; 172.6). Conclusions: A high prevalence of congenital toxoplasmosis was observed, with higher rates of infection in neonates born to mothers with lower levels of education.