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

• Published in: Korean journal of parasitology Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 251 - 256
• Main Authors: Lee, Y H, Noh, H J, Hwang, O S, Lee, S K, Shin, D W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) 대한기생충학열대의학회 01-12-2000; The Korean Society for Parasitology
• 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; Korea
• ISSN: 0023-4001; 1738-0006
• DOI: 10.3347/kjp.2000.38.4.251

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.