Evaluation of seroepidemiological toxoplasmosis in HIV/AIDS patients in the south of Brazil Avaliação soroepidemiológica de toxoplasmose em pacientes HIV/SIDA no sul do Brasil

• Main Authors: Graciela Augusto Xavier, Beatris Gonzalez Cademartori, Nilton Azevedo da Cunha Filho, Nara Amélia da Rosa Farias
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2013
• Subjects: Toxoplasmosis; AIDS; Toxoplasma gondii; Neurotoxoplasmosis; Ocular toxoplasmosis; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic; Sida
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/7d3c58d1236a4968969a4cc38634732b

Toxoplasmosis is considered one of the opportunistic infections for individuals with the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and is also a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of neurotoxoplasmosis, ocular toxoplasmosis and antibodies for Toxoplasma gondii in HIV-positive patients attending the SAE (Specialized Assistance Service for HIV/AIDS), as well as to associate their serological profile with epidemiological and clinical data. A total of 250 patients participated in the study from December, 2009 to November, 2010. Serological analysis was performed using the indirect immunofluorescent technique; epidemiological data were gathered by a questionnaire, and clinical history was based on the analysis of medical charts. Prevalence of seropositivity was 80%, with history of neurotoxoplasmosis in 4.8% and of ocular toxoplasmosis in 1.6% of the patients. The Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART) was not used by 32% of the patients, 18.4% of the patients had CD4+ T- lymphocyte count less than 200 cells/mm³ and 96.8% of them were not aware of the modes of disease transmission. These findings led us to conclude that the study population is at high risk of clinical toxoplasmosis, because of both reactivation of infection in the seropositive patients who do not make a regular use of HAART, and primo-infection in seronegative patients worsened by an unawareness of the modes of infection reported in this study. A toxoplasmose é considerada uma das infecções oportunistas em indivíduos com a Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida (SIDA), constituindo importante causa de morbidade e mortalidade. Este trabalho objetivou conhecer a prevalência de neurotoxoplasmose, toxoplasmose ocular e de anticorpos para Toxoplasma gondii, em pacientes HIV positivos em atendimento no SAE (Serviço de Assistência Especializada em HIV/AIDS) além de correlacionar seu perfil sorológico com dados epidemiológicos e clínicos. Foram analisados 250 pacientes no período de dezembro ...