Seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in women with repeated abortions in Kashmir.

Toxoplasmosis caused by an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is a very common infection among young adults in diVerent parts of the world. Most of the toxoplasma infections are asymptomatic, the diagnosis relies mainly on the results of serological tests. The clinical implications of toxoplasma infection in pregnant patients are manifold. Such patients may have spontaneous abortions, still births or premature delivery in addition to various fetal anomalies. Ideally every woman should know her toxoplasma status before conception. Toxoplasma antibodies may persist in the serum of an asymptomatic people for years at higher titres. In this study we screened women with repeated abortions for prevalence of toxoplasma antibodies (IgM) to determine any possible aetiological relation between abortions and toxoplasma infection.