The correlation between Toxoplasma gondii infection and Parkinson’s disease: a case-control study

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that infects all nucleate cells of vertebrates. Human infected by vertical transmission and also using raw or undercooked meat or food and water that contaminated with mature oocysts. Parkinson's disease as neurodegenerative disease affects people above 60 years. Due to high prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Iran and evidence about effects of T. gondii on neurodegenerative diseases, this study has been conducted to investigate possible correlation between Toxoplasma and Parkinson's disease in Iran. Seventy five Parkinson's patients and equal healthy volunteers were enrolled. After obtaining informed consent and sociodemographic features, 5 ml blood sample were collected and then anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM levels were examined by ELISA method. Data was analyzed with Chi-squre and Fisher's test by usig stata 11 software. Binary logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis in assessing the correlation between toxoplasmosis and Parkinson. Eighty five percent of Parkinson's group and 90.3 % of control group were positive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody. In this investigation no statically differences were observed between groups and age, gender, residency and using raw or undercooked meat. There is no significant association between IgG positive titer and Parkinson's disease. However, statistically significant association was found between Parkinson and keeping cat (P = 0.03) as well as the using of undercooked egg (P = 0.004). Although there is high level of anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody in Parkinson's patients which reflects chronic Toxoplasma infection; we couldn't detect any statistical association between T. gondii infection and Parkinson's disease.

Toxoplasma gondiiexposure and Parkinson's disease: a case–control study

“…26 Therefore, the results of our study do not support an association between T. gondii infection and Parkinson's disease. The lack of association between T. gondii infection and the presence of Parkinson's disease is consistent with similar results reported by Celik et al 14 15 and Oskouei et al 16 In contrast, our results conflict with those reported by Miman et al 13 who found a significantly higher seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies in patients with Parkinson's disease than in controls. Other studies have also linked toxoplasmosis with Parkinson's disease.…”

A Case-Control Study of Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in Dementia Patients in Arak and Hamadan, West of Iran

“…Other neurodegenerative diseases have been investigated in different studies. For example, Mahami Oskouei et al implied no significant correlation between PD and toxoplasmosis (5). In this study, 85% of PD patients and 90.3% of controls were positive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody.…”

“…Although T. gondii has affected nearly one-third of the world's population, the distribution of toxoplasmosis infection varies in different parts of the world (4). Previous studies showed a prevalence of 18 to 70% in different areas of Iran (5).…”

Latent Toxoplasmosis Effects on Rodents and Humans: How Much is Real and How Much is Media Hype?

“…The association between T. gondii and dementia has been investigated in Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and overall cognition. Several publications reported a positive correlation between PD and T. gondii seropositivity (83,84), although they were quickly followed by negative studies (85,86). In a recent meta-analysis on PD and T. gondii seropositivity, Zhou et al included seven studies with 1,086 subjects total and found no correlation between PD and T. gondii seropositivity (87).…”