A newborn screening programme for congenital toxoplasmosis in the setting of a country with less income.

摘要

A well-established newborn screening programme for congenital toxoplasmosis has been reported in a European country with low prevalence; however, this programme has also been implemented in countries with lower income but with a higher percentage of newborn infected children. We conducted a study in II public health community hospitals in the Department of Quindio, excluding the capital (Armenia), in Columbia; about 4560 children are delivered in. these hospitals annually. Infants bom from August 2003 to December 2003 were enrolled in the study. Informed consent was obtained from mothers during sampling and results were reported in accordance with the resolution 008430 of 1993 of the Ministry of Public Health concerning medical research in Colombia. All serum samples were tested with the Platelia Toxo IgM Neonatal assay (Bio-Rad, Hercules, California, USA) as recommended by the manufacturer. In all, 322 samples were collected, including 106 dry paper samples from the heel, which about 25% of which wereinsufficient. Thus, 216 samples were taken in 5-ml tubes at the arm at the first medical check of the newborn (10-30 days after birth). All the poor-quality dry paper samples were taken again at the arm. Five samples showed positive Platelia IgM assay (one from a filter card and