Investigation of the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in patients with malignancies, southwest of Iran

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease, that can affect humans, other warm-blooded animals, and cats. Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, individuals with immunocompromised immune systems, AIDS patients, transplant recipiens, and hemodialysis patiens, are at a greater risk of contracting toxoplasmosis. Due to the similarity of certain toxoplasmosis symptoms to those of cancer or chemotherapy-related problems, it is difficult to establish the existence of toxoplasmosis symptoms, For this reason, one of the ways to prove this infection is the ELISA test and determining the amount of antibodies in the patient. Blood was drawn from 90 cancer patients who had been admitted to the hospital and were at various stages of chemotherapy. The anti-toxoplasma antibody titer was then determined using the ELISA method, and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 software. In this study, 50(55.6%) were women and 40(44.4%) were men, all samples were negative for IgM antibody titer while 50 samples(55.6%) were positive for IgG antibodies. In patients with positive tests, the most common clinical symptoms were lethargy and anorexia. Although anti-toxoplasma IgG antibodies were more in men than women, no significant difference was seen between gender and infection. It was also observed that anti-toxoplasma IgG antibodies were higher in people who had a history of chemotherapy compared to people with malignancies without such a history, the level of anti-toxoplasma IgG in malignant patients hospitalized in this hospital was high, but statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the prevalence of toxoplasma and the type of cancer. Cancer patients are at great risk of developing severe toxoplasmosis and its consequences due to the high incidence of T. gondii. Therefore, Oncologists should view this serious medical condition as requiring immediate attention.