%0 Journal Article %T PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF TOXOPLASMOSIS AMONG WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE, SOUTHWESTERN IRAN %J Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology %I The Egyptian Society of Parasitology %Z 1110-0583 %A NEMATOLLAHI, SAHEB %A HAJIMOHAMMADI, BAHADOR %A ESLAMI, GILDA %A EHRAMPOUSH, MOHAMMAD HASSAN %A TAFTI, AREFEH DEHGHANI %D 2022 %\ 08/01/2022 %V 52 %N 2 %P 341-348 %! PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF TOXOPLASMOSIS AMONG WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE, SOUTHWESTERN IRAN %K Toxoplasmosis %K risk factors %K ELISA %K Women of reproductive age %K Iran %R 10.21608/jesp.2022.257707 %X Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that has a worldwide prevalence. This infectioncan lead to severe problems during pregnancy, including miscarriage, and fetal developmentalretardation. This study assessed the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in women of reproductiveage in Dehdasht, Iran.Blood samples were collected from 300 women referred to Health Center between Febr-uaryand July 2020. Serum was separated and the anti-Toxoplasma IgG & IgM were assessed by usingthe ELISA. Also, all women were administered a questionnaire to record demographic and riskfactors data such as age, residence, education level, marital status, contact with cats, consumptionof raw vegetables, methods of cooking meat, occupation, raw liver consumption, contact with soil,and raw egg consumption. SPSS software v.23 and Chi-square test used for statistical analyses.The results showed that 32/300 (10.6%) women were seropositive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG, butnegative for anti-Toxoplasma IgM. There was a significant relationship between the prevalence oftoxoplasmosis with age, accommodation, contact with cats, and methods of washing vegetables,number of serving vegetables per day, method of cooking meat, occupation, liver consumption,and contact with soil. There was no significant relationship between toxoplasmosis with maritalstatus, consumption of raw vegetables, number of servings of meat, and consumption of eggs. %U https://jesp.journals.ekb.eg/article_257707_363c404fe481999a7e15fc14d9b21acd.pdf