The Use of Microparticles Enzyme Immunoassay in a Seroepidemiological study of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia

(Abdul Rahman Mohammed al-Qurashi)

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Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite with a worldwide distribution. It is particularly common in warm and moist climates. All the published work about Toxoplasma in Saudi Arabia used the conventional methods for detection of toxoplasma-specific antibodies (either haemagglutination, latex agglutination, immunofuorescent or ELISA). None of these studies used the more recent microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA) for analysis of antibody responses to Toxoplasma. In this study, we used the Toxoplasma IgG MEIA to analyze sera from 1464 individuals from different parts of the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. Out of 1464 sera tested for IgG 1100 (75.14%) were found to have negative values less than 2.94 IU/ mL while 364 (24.86%) were recorded with positive values of equal to or more than 2.94 IU/mL. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the use of MEIA in a population based seroepidemiological study of toxoplasma antibodies in Saudi Arabia.
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