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Abstract This study was reviewed and approved by the Mansoura University of science, and informed consent was obtained from all the study groups. Seventy five women selected randomly from these attending Obstetric and Gynecology dapartment at Mansoura University Hospitals, complaining of repeated abortions and positive specific antibodies for ELISA. They were collected through one year from August 2006. Age of the patients ranged from 20-30 years (mean age 25.45±2.03) and forty with normal pregnancies (controls) were tested for the presence of toxoplasma DNA in their blood by a nested PCR. This study was conducted to test the utility of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to detect recent infections with Toxoplasma in pregnant women. T.gondii DNA was detected by using B1 gene as a target for amplification which is highly specific for T.gondii and is well conserved among all of the tested strains. The present study revealed the following findings:(1) PCR was positive in 63 subjects, including 58 high risk cases (77.3%) and 5 of controls (12.5%). (2) 17 high risk cases (24.6%) had false positive IgM and 5 of controls (12.5%) had false negative result for IgM. (3) 17 high risk cases (32.7%) had false positive IgG and 5 of controls (12.5%) had false negative IgG. (4) No significant association between eating raw meat or contact with cats and positive ELISA for PCR but there is highly significant association between women with contact with soil and positive PCR. (5) No significant relation between residency and either ELISA or PCR. (6) Significant negative correlation between the age of the studied women and positivity of PCR. |