Cargando…

Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea

The seroprevalence of human toxoplasmosis has been increasing in Korea, and it is controversial whether cats are an important infection source or not. This study was performed to evaluate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in a high risk group (cat sitters) and to determine the possib...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jung, Bong-Kwang, Song, Hyemi, Lee, Sang-Eun, Kim, Min-Jae, Cho, Jaeeun, Shin, Eun-Hee, Chai, Jong-Yil
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5450964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28506044
http://dx.doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2017.55.2.203
_version_ 1783240084696334336
author Jung, Bong-Kwang
Song, Hyemi
Lee, Sang-Eun
Kim, Min-Jae
Cho, Jaeeun
Shin, Eun-Hee
Chai, Jong-Yil
author_facet Jung, Bong-Kwang
Song, Hyemi
Lee, Sang-Eun
Kim, Min-Jae
Cho, Jaeeun
Shin, Eun-Hee
Chai, Jong-Yil
author_sort Jung, Bong-Kwang
collection PubMed
description The seroprevalence of human toxoplasmosis has been increasing in Korea, and it is controversial whether cats are an important infection source or not. This study was performed to evaluate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in a high risk group (cat sitters) and to determine the possible importance of cats as an infection source in Korea. Risk factors, including the age, sex, and diet of cat sitters, their contact experience and contact frequency with stray cats, and origin, number, and outdoor activity of their pet cats, were analyzed using structured questionnaires. A total of 673 serum samples from people who have frequent contact with cats (high risk group) and 1,114 samples from general people (low risk group) were examined for specific IgG antibodies against T. gondii by ELISA. The results revealed that the overall seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was 7.4% (n=1,787). The seroprevalence among low risk group was 8.0% (89/1,114), whereas that among high risk group was rather lower 6.4% (43/673), though this difference was statistically not significant (P=0.211). Among the risk factors, only the outdoor activity of pet cats was important; people having cats with outdoor activities revealed 2 times higher seroprevalence than people having cats with only indoor activities (P=0.027). In conclusion, the seroprevalence of T. gondii was not significantly different between the high risk group and low risk group, and the importance of cats as a source of infection in Korea is questionable.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5450964
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher The Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-54509642017-06-01 Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea Jung, Bong-Kwang Song, Hyemi Lee, Sang-Eun Kim, Min-Jae Cho, Jaeeun Shin, Eun-Hee Chai, Jong-Yil Korean J Parasitol Brief Communication The seroprevalence of human toxoplasmosis has been increasing in Korea, and it is controversial whether cats are an important infection source or not. This study was performed to evaluate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in a high risk group (cat sitters) and to determine the possible importance of cats as an infection source in Korea. Risk factors, including the age, sex, and diet of cat sitters, their contact experience and contact frequency with stray cats, and origin, number, and outdoor activity of their pet cats, were analyzed using structured questionnaires. A total of 673 serum samples from people who have frequent contact with cats (high risk group) and 1,114 samples from general people (low risk group) were examined for specific IgG antibodies against T. gondii by ELISA. The results revealed that the overall seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was 7.4% (n=1,787). The seroprevalence among low risk group was 8.0% (89/1,114), whereas that among high risk group was rather lower 6.4% (43/673), though this difference was statistically not significant (P=0.211). Among the risk factors, only the outdoor activity of pet cats was important; people having cats with outdoor activities revealed 2 times higher seroprevalence than people having cats with only indoor activities (P=0.027). In conclusion, the seroprevalence of T. gondii was not significantly different between the high risk group and low risk group, and the importance of cats as a source of infection in Korea is questionable. The Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine 2017-04 2017-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC5450964/ /pubmed/28506044 http://dx.doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2017.55.2.203 Text en Copyright © 2017 by The Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Brief Communication
Jung, Bong-Kwang
Song, Hyemi
Lee, Sang-Eun
Kim, Min-Jae
Cho, Jaeeun
Shin, Eun-Hee
Chai, Jong-Yil
Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea
title Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea
title_full Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea
title_fullStr Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea
title_short Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Cat Sitters in Korea
title_sort seroprevalence and risk factors of toxoplasma gondii infection among cat sitters in korea
topic Brief Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5450964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28506044
http://dx.doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2017.55.2.203
work_keys_str_mv AT jungbongkwang seroprevalenceandriskfactorsoftoxoplasmagondiiinfectionamongcatsittersinkorea
AT songhyemi seroprevalenceandriskfactorsoftoxoplasmagondiiinfectionamongcatsittersinkorea
AT leesangeun seroprevalenceandriskfactorsoftoxoplasmagondiiinfectionamongcatsittersinkorea
AT kimminjae seroprevalenceandriskfactorsoftoxoplasmagondiiinfectionamongcatsittersinkorea
AT chojaeeun seroprevalenceandriskfactorsoftoxoplasmagondiiinfectionamongcatsittersinkorea
AT shineunhee seroprevalenceandriskfactorsoftoxoplasmagondiiinfectionamongcatsittersinkorea
AT chaijongyil seroprevalenceandriskfactorsoftoxoplasmagondiiinfectionamongcatsittersinkorea