Risk of Mother-To-Child Transmission of Toxoplasma Gondii Infection among Pregnant Women in the Greater Accra Region
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Date
2012-06-20
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Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is caused by Toxoplasma gondii which can be acquired orally or
congenitally. Congenital infection of infants is known to result in several neurological,
brain and ophthalmic disorders later in life. This study therefore sought to determine the
risk of mother-to-child transmission of T. gondii among women at delivery in a hospital
facility in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Ninety- three (93) pregnant women aged
18 to 45 years voluntarily participated with their babies. Maternal Blood, Umbilical cord
blood and tissue samples were taken at delivery after the expulsion of each placenta.
Finger-prick blood was taken from infants of participating mothers two to six weeks
post-natal. ELISA was used to detect anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies in all blood
samples while Nested-PCR was used to detect T. gondii DNA extracted from placental
tissue. Data collected were analysed using SPSS (Version 16). Overall, 37.6% (35/93)
maternal blood were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG with 39.5% (36/91) umbilical cord
blood also positive for anti-T. gondii IgG. Fifty-seven percent (23/40) of post-natal
infant blood was positive for anti-T. gondii IgG. All of the blood samples were negative
for IgM. T. gondii DNA was detected in 39.8% (35/88) of placental tissues. 38.4%
(33/86) of matched maternal and foetal samples were positive for anti-T.gondii IgG
and/or T. gondii DNA. Toxoplasma gondii DNA detected in placenta may be largely
from cysts and is indicative of infection of the mother in the course of gestation.
Placental toxoplasmosis exposes the foetus to the risk of infection which implies that
almost 40% of the infants were at risk of congenital infection. Further studies needs to
be done to determine the rate of mother-to-child transmission of T. gondii in Ghana.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Philosophy, June-2012