Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma Gondii in Saudi Autoimmune Disease Patients

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is considered as one of the highly resistant intracellular parasite mainly found in the central nervous system (CNS), however, it can persist in multiple tissues in the body. Moreover, T. gondii is causing disseminated infections among patients with autoimmune diseases. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in autoimmune disease Saudi patients. Ninety patients suffer from different autoimmune diseases and forty five healthy controls were subjected to determination of anti T. gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody seropositivity using commercially available Enzyme-linked Immuno sorbent assay kits (ELISA). The results showed that the seropositivity rate of anti T. gondii IgG antibodies was 22.2% the results are statistically significant. These statistically significant results support the association between T. gondii infection and different autoimmune diseases and suggest the usefulness of performing serological test for detection of infection by toxoplasma, so it is recommended early detection of Toxoplasma in autoimmune diseases patients to prevent any complications.