Abstract:
Background: Bronchial asthma is the most frequent chronic disease in children. Asthma exacerbation is a leading cause of pediatric morbidity and hospitalization, and children's social and emotional lives. Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) has been linked to a lower prevalence of allergy illness and has been regarded as a measure of poor hygiene. Microbe-induced Th1 cytokines such as gamma interferon have been postulated to mediate the protective impact of microbial exposure. The goal of the study was to investigate imaginable association between T. gondii infection and asthma in children.
Methods: A comparative case control study was conducted on patients at Benha University Hospital's Pediatric Department and Allergy & Asthma clinic from October 2016 to October 2017. This study included 105 children (35 with resistant bronchial asthma, 35 with responsive bronchial asthma, and 35 healthy control children). They were tested for anti-T. gondii IgG seropositivity using ELISA.
Results: Our results showed that only two patients (5.7%) of 35 were positive for Toxoplasma in the resistant asthmatic group. Still, four patients (11.4%) of 35 among the responsive asthma group were positive, while nine patients (25.7%) of 35 in the control group were positive for T.gondii IgG.
Conclusion: Our findings show a link between Toxoplasma infection and reduced allergy symptoms in the groups investigated. Infection with T.gondii may help prevent bronchial asthma from developing.