Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in HIV-infected patients admitted to a university hospital

Abstract

Objective: Toxoplasma gondii may lead to opportunistic infections that threaten life in patients infected with HIV as opposed to the case of healthy individuals. It was aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in HIV-infected patients admitted to our clinic. Material and Method: The files of HIV-infected patients who were admitted to our polyclinic in the period of January 1995-December 2019 were examined. From the files, information was recorded on demographic characteristics, first diagnosis date, CD4+ T lymphocyte counts at first admission, HIV RNA, T. gondii IgG/M values and whether or not they received antibiotic prophylaxis. Findings: Although the files of 804 HIV-infected patients were examined, data on T. gondii antibodies could be accessed only in the files of 685 patients. The median values of the ages and disease durations of the patients were respectively 33 (range: 17-83) and 4 (range 0-27) years. Among the patients, 88.5% (n: 606) were male. While no patients showed T. gondii IgM antibody positivity, 41.6% (n:285) had T. gondii IgG positivity. The CD4+ T lymphocyte count was under 100 in 10.0% (n: 68/678) of the patients, and among 36.8% (n: 25/68) of these patients, T. gondii IgG was positive. While T. gondii IgG positivity was significant in the patients over the age of 40 and those who were diagnosed before 2010, no significant relationship was found between sex, being men who have sex with men or not, CD4+ T lymphocyte counts and HIV-RNA values. Conclusion: In patients with T. gondii IgG positivity, the risk of toxoplasmosis reactivation increases especially when the CD4+ T lymphocyte counts fall below 200. For this reason, investigating the seroprevalence of T. gondii in patients of all ages is important to be able to assess the risks that may develop, and it should be kept in mind that seropositivity may increase by advanced age.