{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]],"date-time":"2026-03-09T08:09:31Z","timestamp":1773043771987,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,17]],"date-time":"2023-07-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1689552000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: Toxoplasma gondii infects approximately one third of the world\u2019s human population. The seroepidemiology of T. gondii in cardiovascular patients is poorly discussed in the existing literature. We aimed to evaluate, for the first time, the seroprevalence of T. gondii in cardiovascular patients from Western Romania. (2) Methods: Serologic testing to demonstrate the presence of T. gondii antibodies was conducted in 256 patients with cardiovascular diseases and 261 matched blood donors. (3) Results: The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii antibodies was 64.06% in patients with cardiovascular diseases and 52.88% in blood donors and tended to increase with age in both groups. The seroprevalence of T. gondii antibodies was significantly higher in cardiovascular male patients (69.94%) compared to male blood donors (55.69%) (p = 0.006). When compared to the control group, a significantly higher prevalence of T. gondii antibodies was found among patients with hypertension (82.35%; p = 0.01) and unstable angina (67.56%; p = 0.02). (4) Conclusions: This study brings new epidemiological information on the prevalence of T. gondii in Romanian cardiovascular patients. T. gondii seroprevalence was significantly higher in patients with hypertension and unstable angina, suggesting that individuals with these diagnoses may be more frequently infected with T. gondii. This study may be a valuable starting point for further research to better evaluate the impact of T. gondii exposure on patients with cardiovascular diseases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life13071575","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,18]],"date-time":"2023-07-18T01:31:32Z","timestamp":1689643892000},"page":"1575","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases from Western Romania: A Case\u2013Control Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Angela","family":"Dragomir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline of Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Clinical Laboratory, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, 300310 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Center for Diagnosis and Study of Parasitic Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maria Alina","family":"Lupu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline of Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Clinical Laboratory, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, 300310 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Center for Diagnosis and Study of Parasitic Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Patogen Preventia, 300124 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rodica","family":"Lighezan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline of Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Center for Diagnosis and Study of Parasitic Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Regional Blood Transfusion Center, 300737 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6235-9076","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana Alexandra","family":"Paduraru","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline of Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Center for Diagnosis and Study of Parasitic Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Patogen Preventia, 300124 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1094-3729","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tudor Rares","family":"Olariu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Discipline of Parasitology, Department of Infectious Diseases, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Center for Diagnosis and Study of Parasitic Diseases, Department of Infectious Disease, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Patogen Preventia, 300124 Timisoara, Romania"},{"name":"Clinical Laboratory, Municipal Clinical Emergency Teaching Hospital, 300254 Timisoara, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"588","DOI":"10.1186\/s13071-020-04445-z","article-title":"The life-cycle of Toxoplasma gondii reviewed using animations","volume":"13","author":"Attias","year":"2020","journal-title":"Parasit. 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