seroepidemiology of toxoplasma gondii infection among healthy blood donors in taiwanseroepidemiology刚地弓形虫感染的健康献血者在台湾.pdfVIP

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii Infection among Healthy Blood Donors in Taiwan 1,2 3 1 1 1 4 Ting-Yi Chiang , Hwei-Ho Hsieh , Ming-Chu Kuo , Kai-Tse Chiu , Wei-Chen Lin , Chia-Kwung Fan , Chi- Tai Fang2,5,6*, Dar-Der Ji1,7* 1 Research and Diagnostic Center, Centers for Disease Control, Taipei, Taiwan, 2 Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 3 Taipei Blood Center, Taiwan Blood Services Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 Department of Parasitology, Taipei Medical University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, 5 Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, 6 Infectious Diseases Research and Education Center, Department of Health and National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 7 Department of Tropical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan Abstract Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic, zoonotic pathogen with a worldwide distribution. There are large variations in the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in different regions of the world. Although toxoplasmosis became a notifiable communicable disease in Taiwan in 2007, little is known about its epidemiology among the general population. This cross- sectional study aimed to survey the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection and its risk factors among healthy blood donors in Taiwan. Through collaborating with the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation, a total of 1,783 healthy blood donors from all six-branch blood service centers participated in this study. The blood samples were tested for the presence of T. gondii antibodies and DNA using enzyme immunoassays and real-time PCR, respectively. Structured questionna