{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T21:50:26Z","timestamp":1777326626189,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]],"date-time":"2022-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642032000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Toxoplasma gondii, one of the most common parasites, causes toxoplasmosis, one of the most frequent zoonotic diseases worldwide. T. gondii infects about one-third of the world\u2019s population. T. gondii infection is generally considered a major risk for spontaneous abortion, prematurity and low birth weight in the animal sphere. Less commonly, a toxoplasma serological profile is correlated with the particular data of delivery. Acute T. gondii infection during pregnancy often leads to spontaneous abortion and\/or a severe injury of the eyes, brain, and other structures of the foetus. Latent T. gondii infection of pregnant women could lead to less obvious but important changes during pregnancy, including the end product of pregnancy and the timing of labour. This study aimed to contribute to the current knowledge by comparing serological T. gondii profiles of pregnant women with prematurity and low birth weights of newborns.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Material and methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A retrospective study design was adopted. The study participants included a cohort of 1733 pregnant women who consecutively gave birth to their children and underwent regular antenatal biochemical screening between the 14<jats:sup>th<\/jats:sup> and 16<jats:sup>th<\/jats:sup> weeks of pregnancy. Prematurity was defined as the liveborn preterm delivery in gestational age of pregnancy &lt;37 weeks. Low birth weight was defined as weight at birth of \u22642499 grams. The complement-fixation test (CFT) provided serological profiles for toxoplasmosis that expresses the overall levels of toxoplasma immunoglobulins of all classes. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests for IgG and IgM were used simultaneously. IgM positivity helped to differentiate acute from the latent stage of toxoplasmosis. Birth data, especially the week of delivery and fetal weight, were evaluated accordingly.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Of the 1733 pregnant women, 25% were diagnosed as latent toxoplasma positive, and 75% as toxoplasma negative. There were 87 premature deliveries versus 1646 timely births. We observed 88 low birth weights and 1645 normal fetal weights. We found a statistically significant association between latent toxoplasmosis and prematurity, \u03c7<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>(1) = 5.471, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = .019 and between latent toxoplasmosis and low birth weight of newborns, \u03c7<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>(1) = 7.663, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = .006. There was a 1.707 times higher risk of prematurity for toxoplasma-positive women, while the risk for low birth weight was 1.861 times higher. The strength of both tests of association was mild. We tested the correlation between the levels of CFT titres and week of delivery and weight of newborns. No association was found between the level of latent toxoplasmosis and the week of delivery and fetal weight.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Latent toxoplasmosis was associated with premature birth rate and lower birth weight of newborns. The odds of premature delivery was 1.7 and low birth weight 1.9 times higher in women with latent toxoplasmosis compared to toxoplasma negative women. Even though the strength of the association in our large sample is relatively mild, the combination of latent toxoplasmosis with other adverse factors could cause serious harm. Whole CFT and specific IgG levels of latent toxoplasmosis are not linked to the severity of prematurity or low birth weight in newborns.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0262593","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]],"date-time":"2022-01-13T19:25:27Z","timestamp":1642101927000},"page":"e0262593","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Toxoplasmosis impact on prematurity and low birth weight"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5373-2358","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Karel","family":"Hurt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Petr","family":"Kodym","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Stejskal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michal","family":"Zikan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Martina","family":"Mojhova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jakub","family":"Rakovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0262593.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"554","DOI":"10.1086\/590149","article-title":"Management of Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy","volume":"47","author":"JG Montoya","year":"2008","journal-title":"Clinical Infectious Diseases"},{"key":"pone.0262593.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S73","DOI":"10.1086\/338827","article-title":"Laboratory diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection and toxoplasmosis","volume":"185","author":"JG Montoya","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Infectious Diseases"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0262593.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1079","DOI":"10.1007\/s10096-016-2656-2","article-title":"Is Toxoplasma gondii type related to clinical outcome in human congenital infection? Systematic and critical review","volume":"35","author":"CP Rico-Torres","year":"2016","journal-title":"European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases"},{"key":"pone.0262593.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2019.00054","article-title":"Clinical Toxoplasmosis in Dogs and Cats: An Update","volume":"6","author":"R Calero-Bernal","year":"2019","journal-title":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0262593.ref005","article-title":"Newborns at risk for congenital toxoplasmosis, review of 16 years","volume":"28","author":"JV Andrade","year":"2018","journal-title":"Scientia Medica"},{"issue":"48","key":"pone.0262593.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6492","DOI":"10.1016\/j.vaccine.2017.01.049","article-title":"Low birth weight: Case definition & guidelines for data collection, analysis, and presentation of maternal immunization safety data","volume":"35","author":"CL Cutland","year":"2017","journal-title":"Vaccine"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0262593.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1471-0528.2004.00299.x","article-title":"Association between congenital toxoplasmosis and preterm birth, low birthweight and small for gestational age birth","volume":"112","author":"K Freeman","year":"2005","journal-title":"Bjog-an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0262593.ref008","article-title":"Prematurity and Low Birth Weight did not Correlate with Anti-Toxoplasma gondii Maternal Serum Profiles\u2014a Brazilian Report","volume":"10","author":"MML Fochi","year":"2015","journal-title":"Plos One"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0262593.ref009","first-page":"78","article-title":"Hypotrophy and toxoplamosis","volume":"5","author":"K Hurt","year":"1999","journal-title":"Neonatology journal"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0262593.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1150","DOI":"10.1177\/0956462417696216","article-title":"Extensive brain masses and cavitary lung lesions associated with toxoplasmosis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome","volume":"28","author":"F Ayoade","year":"2017","journal-title":"International Journal of Std & Aids"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0262593.ref011","first-page":"721","article-title":"Congenital ocular toxoplasmosis\u2014Observations on the outcome after an early diagnosis","volume":"222","author":"JG Garweg","year":"2005","journal-title":"Klinische Monatsblatter Fur Augenheilkunde"},{"key":"pone.0262593.ref012","article-title":"Hydrops fetalis associated with maternal toxoplasmosis: about a case and literature review","volume":"29","author":"MK Kasonga","year":"2018","journal-title":"Pan African Medical Journal"},{"issue":"9425","key":"pone.0262593.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1965","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(04)16412-X","article-title":"Toxoplasmosis","volume":"363","author":"JG Montoya","year":"2004","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0262593.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.diagmicrobio.2020.114987","article-title":"How to estimate time of infection with Toxoplasma gondii in pregnant women. Use of specific IgG and IgM kinetics by 7 techniques on 691 sera","volume":"96","author":"H Fricker-Hidalgo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0262593.ref015","first-page":"247","article-title":"WHO recommended definitions, terminology and format for statistical tables related to the perinatal period and use of a new certificate for cause of perinatal deaths","volume":"56","author":"O. World Health","year":"1977","journal-title":"Modifications recommended by FIGO as amended October 14, 1976"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0262593.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0110878","article-title":"Effects of Latent Toxoplasmosis on Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases in Pregnancy","volume":"9","author":"S Kankova","year":"2014","journal-title":"Plos One."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0262593.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pt.2016.10.007","article-title":"Lifelong Persistence of Toxoplasma Cysts: A Questionable Dogma?","volume":"33","author":"S Rougier","year":"2017","journal-title":"Trends in Parasitology"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0262593.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"299","DOI":"10.1007\/s15010-019-01380-9","article-title":"Spinal cord toxoplasmosis in a young immunocompetent patient","volume":"48","author":"M Martinot","year":"2020","journal-title":"Infection"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0262593.ref019","article-title":"Disseminated toxoplasmosis associated with hemophagocytic syndrome after kidney transplantation: A case report and review","volume":"21","author":"J Gay","year":"2019","journal-title":"Transplant Infectious Disease"},{"key":"pone.0262593.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1155\/2018\/9876514","article-title":"Concentric and Eccentric Target MRI Signs in a Case of HIV-Associated Cerebral Toxoplasmosis.","volume":"2018","author":"AD Roche","year":"2018","journal-title":"Case Reports in Neurological Medicine"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0262593.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"436","DOI":"10.1212\/CPJ.0000000000000364","article-title":"Cerebral toxoplasmosis diagnosed by brain tissue PCR analysis in an immunocompetent patient","volume":"7","author":"G Pustorino","year":"2017","journal-title":"Neurology-Clinical Practice"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0262593.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1595","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/cis258","article-title":"Prematurity and Severity Are Associated With Toxoplasma gondii Alleles (NCCCTS, 1981\u20132009)","volume":"54","author":"R McLeod","year":"2012","journal-title":"Clinical Infectious Diseases"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0262593","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]],"date-time":"2022-01-13T19:25:55Z","timestamp":1642101955000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0262593"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Antonella","family":"Marangoni","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]]},"references-count":22,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0262593","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]]}}}