1.Global status of Toxoplasma gondii infection: systematic review and prevalence snapshots
Molan, A. ; Nosaka, K. ; Hunter, M. ; Wang, W
Tropical Biomedicine 2019;36(4):898-925
Our group sought to determine the global status of T. gondii infection and to
evaluate any continental and geographical trends by systematically examining the currently
available epidemiological data on the prevalence of T. gondii infection. A comprehensive
literature search was conducted from 10 electronic databases (Google Scholar, Science
Direct, Embase, PubMed, PLOS ONE, Web of Knowledge, SciELO, MyAIS, Free Medical
Journals, and Scopus) without date or language restrictions. Specific medical subject heading
terms were used to search for human T. gondii seroprevalence studies that recruited subjects
from general apparently healthy populations. The data were collated and analysed for both
continental and global trends. The search identified 152 published studies that examined a
total of 648,010 subjects. From these, 166,255 were seropositive for T. gondii infection
indicating an average global seroprevalence rate of 25.7% (95% CI: 25.6 – 25.8%). The overall
range of seroprevalence was determined to be 0.5 – 87.7%. African countries had the highest
average seroprevalence rate of 61.4%, followed by Oceania with 38.5%, South America with
31.2%, Europe with 29.6%, USA/Canada with 17.5%, and Asia with 16.4%. Numerous
environmental and human factors affect the differences in T. gondii seroprevalence rates
observed between the various countries and continents. Monitoring the source and
transmission may assist public health authorities to clarify the risk factors involved, as well
as focus on implementing optimal state-specific health policies targeting T. gondii transmission
control.