PREVALENCE OF TOXOPLASMA ANTIBODIES AMONG SAUDI EYE PATIENTS

Toxoplasmosis is a disease with variable frequency in different parts of the world. The prevalence of systemic toxoplasmosis may vary betwee n 5 and 40% depending on the community. We selected at random 114 pati ents from an out-patient eye clinic in Saudi Arabia. None of the patie nts had clinical evidence of ocular toxoplasmosis. Serum toxoplasma an tibody was determined by a solid phase enzyme immunoassay for the quan titative determination of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. There were 86 male and 28 female patients with an age range of 10 months to 80 ye ars, and a mean age of 45 years. A total of 18 (15.9%) out of 114 pati ents had evidence of IgG antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. Seven (38%) of the 18 patients with positive antibodies to toxoplasma had cats at home compared with 13 (13.5%) of 96 patients with negative antibodies to toxoplasma (p<0.02). The relative risk of developing toxoplasmosis among those who have cats is fourfold.