An elevated blood glucose level and increased incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant women with latent toxoplasmosis
Kaňková, Š., Flegr, J., Calda, P.
Folia Parasitologica 2015; 62: 041doi: 10.14411/fp.2015.041
Click for abstract
About 30–50% of the world human population are infected with the protozoan parasite
Toxoplasma gondii
(
Nicolle et
Manceaux, 1908). Latent toxoplasmosis has many specific behavioural and physiological effects on the human body and influences the
course of pregnancy, including secondary sex ratio of children of infected mothers. It was suggested that an increased concentration
of glucose could be the proximate cause of increased sex ratio. There are some indirect indications of possible association between
toxoplasmosis and certain forms of diabetes.
Here we searched for a possible link between latent toxoplasmosis and the level of glu
-
cose in the blood. In a cross-sectional study, we found that pregnant women with latent toxoplasmosis had significantly higher blood
glucose levels during the oral glucose tolerance test (n = 191, p = 0.010; the level of fasting plasma glucose: mean = 5.04 mmol/l
vs
mean
= 4.88 mmol/l; blood glucose level at 1 hour mean = 7.73 mmol/l
vs
mean = 6.89 mmol/l and blood glucose level at two hours
mean = 6.43 mmol/l
vs
mean = 5.74 mmol/l) and higher prevalence (19.5 %) of gestational diabetes mellitus (n = 532, p
= 0.033, odds
ratio = 1.78) in the 24–28th gestational weeks than
T. gondii-
free women (12.0 %). Increased level of glucose and increased incidence
of gestational diabetes mellitus could have considerable clinical impact as contributors to the development of the metabolic syndrome
and type 2 diabetes in
T. gondii
-infected women. Our results also brought the first empirical support for the hypothesis that the glucose concentration may play a role in
T. gondii
-associated offspring sex ratio shifts