Toxoplasma antibodies amongst HIV/AIDS patients attending the University Teaching Hospital Yaounde in Cameroon

JCN Assob, AL Njunda, DS Nsagha, HL Kamga, PE Weledji, VB Che

 

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is caused by an obligatory intracellular protozoon. It causes a wide range of diseases with toxoplasma encephalitis commonly encountered in HIV/AIDS patients. This work was carried out to determine the seroprevalence of toxoplasma antibodies (IgM and IgG) in HIV/AIDS patients attending the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Cameroon. Sera were collected from 133 HIV/AIDS patients at the out-patient department and the ELISA technique was employed serologically to determine toxoplasma antibodies. Of the 133 patients 83 (62.4%) were females and 59 (37.6%) were males; ninety three (69.9%) were positive for toxoplasma antibodies. Fourteen (10.8%) of the 93 of seropositive patients presented with both IgG and IgM-antibodies in their sera while fifty six (42.1%) and 8 (6.0%) were only sero-positive for toxoplasma IgG or IgM-antibody respectively This rate of infection was not dependent on the patient’s sex or age (X2=11.49, P>0.05). The data provides enough evidence to conclude that 64.7% of the positive cases were due to reactivated infection.

Key words: Toxoplasmosis, HIV/AIDS, Pregnancy, Risk factors, Prevalence, Yaounde, Cameroon.

Toxoplasma antibodies amongst HIVAIDS patients attending the University Teaching Hospital Yaounde in Cameroon