Toxoplasma gondii Monitoring in Liver Transplantation Patients: A Single Center Cross-Sectional Study in an Italian Hospital

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii (TG) is one of the most widespread intracellular parasites in the world, despite the slight declining trend in industrialized countries. Whilst the infection is often asymptomatic in immunocompetent hosts, in immunocompromised patients such as organ transplant recipients it can have important clinical sequels with even fatal consequences. We retrospectively reviewed 568 primary liver transplants (LT) from deceased donors from 2012 to 2017. Data were analyzed adjusting for year, gender, and age. The study objective was to assess the incidence of post-transplant TG infection and adherence to international guidelines for primary chemoprophylaxis. Prior to transplantation, 42.4% of recipients tested seronegative and 56.5% seropositive, while 36.6% of donors were seropositive and 40.4% showed undetermined serology. Anti-TG antibody titer was higher in patients born abroad (71.4%) versus Italy (54.8%). Among recipients at high risk of post-transplant TG infection, 82.7% of them received chemoprophylaxis, while in 17.3% of cases no prophylaxis was administered. At a mean (SD) follow-up of 21.2 (12.4) months no case of TG infection has been observed. Despite the low rate of adherence to recommendations, prophylaxis of high-risk LT recipients provides control of post-transplant TG infection risk. Review of current guidelines is warranted for low-risk populations.