Korean J Parasitol.  2000 Dec;38(4):251-256. 10.3347/kjp.2000.38.4.251.

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

• Lee YH
• Noh HJ
• Hwang OS
• Lee SK
• Shin DW

• KMID: 1057182
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2000.38.4.251

Abstract

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.

MeSH Terms

Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Animal
Antibodies, Protozoan/blood
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Human
Korea/epidemiology
Male
Middle Age
Prevalence
Rural Population
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Toxoplasma/immunology
Toxoplasmosis/epidemiology*