Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Toxoplasma infection during childhood may cause severe effects for children and their offspring. Here, we initiated a systematic review to estimate the global prevalence of toxoplasmosis. All databases were searched for publications published between January 2000 and March 2021, including studies on the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in children (1 day-15 years). The overall prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis was evaluated with a 95% CI in global and WHO regions. Toxoplasmosis prevalence and the population size were analysed using linear regression to arrive at this conclusion. As a result, 63 articles included 29342 children from 18 countries in the systematic analysis. The total prevalence rate of toxoplasmosis in children was 0.2% (95% CI: 0.195 – 0.204%). The African region had the highest prevalence rate of 0.28% (95% CI: 0.5-0.55%), while the South American and US regions had the lowest at 0.166% (95% CI: 0.01-0.33%). The prevalence rate among children is very high. Further examination and investigation of the parasite among children is required to reduce the occurrence of new infections or prevent complications of the disease.
Toxoplasma gondii; Seroprevalence; Children; Meta- analysis; Systematic review
Musafer H. A-Ardi Received 12-20-2021, Accepted 02-07-2022, published 05-31-2022.
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