{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T23:28:12Z","timestamp":1781738892752,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"PeerJ","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,3,13]],"date-time":"2019-03-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1552435200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China","award":["ZR2016HQ18"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZR2016HQ18"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Limited information is available concerning the epidemiology of <jats:italic>Toxoplasma gondii<\/jats:italic> infection in children with leukemia in Eastern China. Therefore, a case-control study was conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in this patient group and to identify risk factors and possible routes of infection. Serum samples were collected from 339 children with leukemia and 339 age matched health control subjects in Qingdao from September 2014 to March 2018. Enzyme linked immunoassays were used to screen anti- <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> IgG and anti- <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> IgM antibodies. Forty-eight (14.2%) children with leukemia and 31 (9.1%) control subjects were positive for anti-<jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> IgG antibodies (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u00a0&lt;\u00a00.05), while 13 (3.8%) patients and 14 (4.1%) controls were positive for anti-<jats:italic>T.\u00a0gondii<\/jats:italic> IgM antibodies (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a00.84). Multivariate analysis showed exposure to soil and a history of blood transfusion were risk factors for <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> infection. Compared with IgG, patients with a history of blood transfusion were more likely to present anti- <jats:italic>T.\u00a0gondii<\/jats:italic> IgM (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a00.003). Moreover, patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia had higher <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> seroprevalence in comparison to control subjects (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a00.002 and <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\u00a0=\u00a00.016, respectively). The results indicated that the seroprevalence of <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> infection in children with leukemia is higher than that of healthy children in Eastern China. This information may be used to guide future research and clinical management, and further studies are necessary to elucidate the role of <jats:italic>T. gondii<\/jats:italic> in children with leukemia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.6604","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,3,13]],"date-time":"2019-03-13T04:33:56Z","timestamp":1552451636000},"page":"e6604","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Seroprevalence and risk factors of <i>Toxoplasma gondii<\/i> infection in children with leukemia in Shandong Province, Eastern China: a case\u2014control prospective study"],"prefix":"10.7717","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Na","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haiyang","family":"Fu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Affiliated 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