environmental risk-factors

Objective: Toxoplasma gondii infection is a very common parasitic disease in human. In Turkey, the rate of seropositivity was reported as 23.1% to 36%. Because of the high affinity of parasite into Central Nervous System (CNS), chronic toxoplasma infection has been found correlated with many neuropsychiatric disorders, including altered mental status, obsessive-compulsive disorder, cognitive impairment, epilepsy, headache and schizophrenia. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether T. gondii has any role in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) by measuring anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. Methods: Fifty-two MS patients followed up and 45 controls with similar age and socioeconomic status were included in the study. Anti-T. gondii IgL antibodies of the patients and controls were studied in blood with micro-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: Of 52 MS patients included in the study, 37 had RRMS, 10 PPMS and 5 SPMS. Mean age of onset of the disease was 31.7 +/- 10.4 (min; 14 and max; 53). Twenty three of 52 (44.2%) cases with MS and 11 of 45 (24.4%) healthy controls were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. There was a statistically significant difference between the rates of positivity between the MS patient group and control group (p=0.042). Conclusion: This study shows a relation of chronic T. Gondii infection with MS. According to this study, experienced T. gondii infection may be one of the several environmental risk factors for MS.