The Medical Journal of Basrah University

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Objective: to study the rate of infections of toxoplasmosis as an opportunistic infection among two groups of adult
patients in Mosul city (Iraq) and surrounding areas. The first group was diagnosed before receiving any kind of anticancer
therapy (BRT) and the second group after receiving their anti-cancer therapy (ART).
Methods: Latex Agglutination (LA) test for detection of IgG antibodies and Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay
(ELIZA) test for detection of IgM antibodies were used. Chi-square test (X2) was used for statistical analysis.
Results: Out of (90) samples tested of the (BRT) group, 43(48%) were positive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG
antibodies by LA test. Out of (70) samples tested of the (ART) group, 25(36%) were positive for anti-Toxoplasma
IgG antibodies using LA test. Statistically, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The study
revealed that patients in both groups showed seropositive results using LA test, but sera of patients examined by
ELISA test revealed that 8(19%) and 7(28%) were positive for (BRT) and (ART) groups respectively. Statistically,
there was no significant difference between the two groups.
Conclusions: 1. Patients with leukemia or lymphoma before and after receiving therapy showed great susceptibility
to be infected with Toxoplasma gondii. 2. In both groups, detection of toxoplasma antibodies was higher among
patients using (LA) test (48%) than that of ELISA test (19%) in (BRT) group, while in (ART) group (36%) were
positive in (LA) test and (28%) in ELISA test. 3. Detection of antibodies of toxoplasmosis was higher among those
who received both regimens of anti-cancer therapy (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) than those who receiving single
type of therapy.