Abstract

Blood samples from 254 childbearing age women from two villages (EL Nuba and EL Massoudia) were collected after seeking their consent; their written consent form was obtained. Detection of IgM for acute toxoplasmosis was done using two different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) techniques. Prevalence of IgM was 18.9 and 20.3%; this was obtained by using ELISA IgM in Khartoum for all samples and ELISA IgM in Prague for selected samples, respectively. Diagnostic test was used to confirm acute toxoplasmosis. This consists of detecting IgA and IgE using ELISA technique. The result was the same in both techniques (6.8%). Confirmation tests were used for different purposes. IgG avidity was used to determine the exact time the selected samples had the infection. Six cases had recent infection; five cases had old infection and two cases were in between. Western blot (WB) was used to confirm the antibodies detected by screening and diagnostic tests. Western blot confirmed that 61.5% of samples had antibodies against P30 gene.

Key words: Acute toxoplasmosis, ELISA- IgG avidity, Western blot, rural women, Sudan.