Seroepidemiological study of Toxoplasma gondii infection in the rural area Okcheon-gun, Korea

There have been some reports about the prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibody among Koreans, and most of all data were taken from patients visiting hospitals. However, the epidemiological data of the community-based study in Korea are rare. This study was performed to evaluate the seroprevale...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Korean journal of parasitology 2000-12, Vol.38 (4), p.251-256
Main Authors: Lee, Y H, Noh, H J, Hwang, O S, Lee, S K, Shin, D W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Animals
Antibodies, Protozoan - blood
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Humans
Korea - epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Original
Prevalence
Rural Population
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Toxoplasma - immunology
Toxoplasmosis - epidemiology
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Summary:There have been some reports about the prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibody among Koreans, and most of all data were taken from patients visiting hospitals. However, the epidemiological data of the community-based study in Korea are rare. This study was performed to evaluate the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis among the inhabitants of the rural area Okcheon-gun, Korea. A total of 1,109 serum samples (499 males, 610 females) were examined for the IgG antibodies by ELISA. To set up the cut-off point for ELISA, we used a commercial latex agglutination (LA) kit. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA against LA test were 89.5%, and 98.6% respectively. Among 1,109 sera, 6.9% showed seropositivity by ELISA. The positive rates of males and females were 6.0% and 7.2%, respectively. However, there were no significant differences between sexes. Comparing the age groups, the highest seropositive rate showed in the seventies or higher, and their rates had a tendency to increase with age (0.05 < p < 0.3). These results revealed that the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in rural inhabitants is similar to previous reports in Korea; however we need further investigation to clarify the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in the general population.
ISSN:0023-4001
1738-0006
DOI:10.3347/kjp.2000.38.4.251