Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma Gondii and Toxocara Spp in Children with Cryptogenic Epilepsy

Nora Labeeb El-Tantawy^1, , Hala Ahmed El-Nahas¹, Doaa Abdel-Badie Salem¹, Nanees Abdel-Badie Salem² and Bothina M. Hasaneen²

¹Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

²Neurology Unit, Pediatrics Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

Cite this paper:
Nora Labeeb El-Tantawy, Hala Ahmed El-Nahas, Doaa Abdel-Badie Salem, Nanees Abdel-Badie Salem and Bothina M. Hasaneen. Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma Gondii and Toxocara Spp in Children with Cryptogenic Epilepsy. American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. 2013; 1(5):92-95. doi: 10.12691/ajidm-1-5-3

Abstract

Cryptogenic epilepsy is a group of epilepsy syndromes where aetiology is unknown but an underlying brain disease is suspected. Increased seropositivity for Toxocara and Toxoplasma gondii have been observed in epileptic patients with sparse data about their seropositivity in cryptogenic epileptic patients. Therefore, we investigated the probable relationship between seropositivity against T. gondii and Toxocara with cryptogenic epilepsy. We examined patients who had cryptogenic epilepsy and healthy non epileptic controls for seropositivity for Toxocara and T. gondii antibodies by ELISA. Out of 132 cryptogenic epileptic patients, 80 (60.6 %) and 64 (48.5%) were seropositive for T. gondii and Toxocara immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies respectively. The seropositivity in the control group was 26 (43.3%) and 28 (46.7%) for T. gondii and Toxocara IgG respectively. We found a significant association between chronic T. gondii infection and cryptogenic epilepsy while the association between Toxocara infection and cryptogenic epilepsy was insignificant. Our findings indicate that toxoplasmosis may be a cause of cryptogenic epilepsy. We recommended both promoting health education to prevent such infection and screening children for toxoplasmosis which would help early treatment and so decreasing the incidence of epilepsy.

Keywords:
Toxoplasma Toxocara cryptogenic epilepsy ELISA

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