Lack of association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and occupational exposure to animals

Abstract

The association of infection with Toxoplasma gondii and occupational exposure to animals has been scantly determined. We performed a case-control study with 200 subjects from Durango Province, Mexico, occupationally exposed to animals and 200 age- and gender-matched subjects without this occupation. Sera from all participants were analyzed for anti- T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies using enzyme-linked immunoassays. The association of seroprevalence with sociodemographic, work, clinical, and behavioral characteristics in cases was determined.Cases and controls had similar frequencies of anti- T. gondii IgG antibodies (12/200: 6.0% and 11/200: 5.5%, respectively) (OR = 3.0; 95% CI: 0.12–73.64; P = 1.0). The frequency of sera with high (>150 IU/ml) levels of anti- T. gondii IgG antibodies was comparable among cases and controls ( P = 0.61). Seroprevalence of anti- T. gondii IgM antibodies was similar in cases (4, 2.0%) than in controls (4, 2.0%) ( P = 1.0). Multivariate analysis showed that seropositivity was associated with eating while working (OR = 7.14; 95% CI: 1.91–26.72; P = 0.003) and consumption of duck meat (OR = 5.43; 95% CI: 1.43–20.54; P = 0.01).No association between seropositivity to T. gondii and occupational exposure to animals was found. However, risk factors for infection found should be taken into account to reduce the exposure to T. gondii.