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| Seroprevalence of Toxocara spp Among Epileptic Patients in Iraq/Basra |
Ban Anas Sabbar, Assim Khalid Assim, Nadham Kadham Mahdi
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Abstract:
To study seroprevalence of Toxocara antibody Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and epidemiological risk factors as well as assessment the immunological pattern including cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) and immunoglobulin E (IgE) among epileptic patients in Basra province . Subjects and Methods: Forty seven epileptic patients, their ages range from 2.5 - 45 years (22 females and 25 males) and 109 apparently healthy volunteers as a control group with ages range between 2 - 80 years (59 females and 50 males ) were enrolled in this study. The study was done during the period from December 2017 to November 2018 at The Pediatric and Neurology Consulting Clinic of Basra Teaching Hospital. The risk and epidemiologic factors were assessed by a special questionnaire which was completed by the patients themselves or their relative. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and cytokines were assessed by using ELISA while IgE by immunoturbidimetric assay by using the Abbott ARCHITECT c System for every epileptic patient as well as control group. Results: Sixteen (34.04%) of epileptic patients were seropositive for Toxocara antibody (IgG ) in comparison with 2 (1.83%) of control group with significant difference between them (p=0.0001). There was no significant association between seropositive and seronegative epileptic patients in regard to characteristic features of the studied population (sex and age) and risk factors (residence, exposure to soil, animal ownership, presence of home garden, onychophagia, thumb sucking, medicine intake, family history, duration of epilepsy and occupation) except geophagia . But interestingly, there were elevated in risk ratio for 5 variables including onychophagia (1.7), thumb sucking (2.1), geophagia (3.4), medication intake (1.1) and family history (1.7), when it is evaluated by Chi-squared “Fisher exact test” (risk ratio >1). The immunological assessments reveal an elevation IgE and IL-10 level in seropositive group in comparison seronegative group without a significant difference, while IL-6 concentration is elevated in the seronegative group. Conclusion: In epileptic patients in Basra province, infection with Toxocara spp may play role as a risk factor for idiopathic epilepsy. Risk factors such as onychophagia, geophagia, thumb sucking, medication intake and family history may increase risk infection with Toxocara spp in epileptic patients. Also toxocariasis may lead to elevation of IgE and IL-10 levels in these patients but it appears has a weak influence on concentration of IL-6.
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