TOXOPLASMA-GONDII ANTIBODIES IN PREGNANT-WOMEN AND THEIR NEWBORNS IN DAR-ES-SALAAM, TANZANIA

The sera of 849 Tanzanian pregnant women were tested at delivery for T oxoplasma gondii antibodies with the Sabin-Feldman dye test (DT) and a n immunosorbent agglutination assay. A total of 296 (35%) of these wom en had DT titers greater than 1:4. The percentage of women with dye te st titers greater than 1:4 was 34-37% regardless of the individual age s. The rate of positivity for human immunodeficiency virus 1/2 (HIV-1/ 2) using Western blotting was 11.5%. There was no relationship between prevalence of a positive DT result and HIV infection nor between the intensity of the DT result and HIV infection. Sixty-four parturients h ad a DT titer of 1:1,000 or more. From 57 newborns of these mothers, c ord sera were available and were screened by the DT and the immunosorb ent agglutination assay. Seven of these were found to be positive for IgM and/or IgA antibodies. It was concluded that the rate of serologic evidence for prenatal Toxoplasma infection in cord blood samples in t he present study of Tanzanian pregnant women was approximately 0.8%.