1. ESTUDIO DE FRECUENCIA DE TOXOPLASMOSIS: en pacientes atendidos en tres laboratorios clínicos en Ensenada, Baja California, México.
- Author
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Field Cortázares, Jorge, Tinoco Gracia, Luis, López Valencia, Gilberto, Tamayo Sosa, Alma Rossana, Barreras Serrano, Alberto, Hori Oshima, Sawako, Medina Basulto, Gerardo Enrique, González Medina, Yolanda, and de Jesús Coria Lorenzo, José
- Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Toxoplasmosis is a zoonosis caused by Toxoplasma gondii. Evidence has been found in Mexico in cats, dogs, pigs, boars, horses, sheep, ocelots, cougars, spider, monkeys, rabbits, marine mammals and chickens. The conditions are congenital and severe neurological (encephalitis) that affect the functioning of the liver, lungs, kidneys and retina. OBJECTIVE: Not having a history of the existence of this disease in Ensenada city, Baja California (BC), the objective was to perform a frequency study of toxoplasmosis in patients attended in three clinical laboratories, to demonstrate the presence of the disease in this region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective and descriptive study was conducted in the period between June 1, 2015 and May 31, 2016. A total of 139 blood samples were collected from humans from one year to 75 years old in Ensenada city. For the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis, a commercial ELISA kit was made. RESULTS: The frequency of toxoplasmosis was 8.6% (12/139) in humans 1-75 years of age (CI: 95%, 5.0-14.4). Of the total samples, six corresponded to women and six to men, representing 4.3% in each case (CI: 95%, 1.9-9.1 for both sexes); In addition, two patients (1.4%) younger than 18 years (CI: 95%, 0.4-5.0) and 10 patients (7.1%) older than 18 years (CI: 95%, 3.9-12.7) were positive for toxoplasmosis. DISCUSSION: This study shows that although the frequency of infection by Toxoplasma gondii is low in the city of Ensenada, B.C., the risk of contracting it exists; In addition, it's found that its prevalence in humans is related to that of animals. In this study, there was no difference in the prevalence of toxoplasmosis by sex, as has happened in other parts of the world, probably because they have the same eating and working habits. Likewise, it was demonstrated that the adults sampled in Ensenada had higher prevalence (7.1%) than those under 18 years (1.4%), a situation consistent with other regions, which shows that toxoplasmosis prevalence --which is one of the main parasitic diseases in humans-- increases with age. CONCLUSIONS: With the results of this study it was confirmed that toxoplasmosis does exist in Ensenada, B.C., so it must be included in the differential diagnoses in the health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019