Kinetics of Toxoplasma infection in the Balkans

Abstract

Aim: The kinetics of Toxoplasma infection in the Balkans were reviewed. Source of data: Published reports on Toxoplasma infection in women of childbearing age in the last 30 years for all Balkan countries. Results: The dominant feature of Toxoplasma infection in the Balkans is a continuous decrease in the prevalence over time. Systematic monitoring of Toxoplasma infection prevalence in populations of women of childbearing age in Slovenia, Serbia and Greece over the last 30 years has shown a continuous significant decrease in all three countries. Moreover, a decrease has also been shown in Montenegro and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia where Toxoplasma infection has been surveyed only during the past decade. Another region-wide feature is that the prevalence of infection currently does not surpass 50%. Further-more, a decrease in Toxoplasma prevalence from the north to the south has been shown in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, from southern Hungary (as a region neighbouring the Balkans at the north), over Serbia and FYRoM to northern Greece. Seasonality of infection, with significantly more cases of acute infection in the winter than in the summer, was observed in Slovenia in the west and Serbia in the east. Despite a common decreasing trend, different infection transmission risk factors seem predominant across the region; while contact with cats was discussed as important in Slovenia, consumption of undercooked meat was shown to be the leading risk factor in Serbia and Albania, and contact with soil in FYRoM and in northern Greece. Conclusion: A decreasing trend of Toxoplasma prevalence over time in the Balkans is part of a changing pattern of Toxoplasma infection throughout Europe. Strategies for the prevention of congenital toxoplasmosis should take the infection dynamics into account.