Hygiene measures as primary prevention of toxoplasmosis during
pregnancy: a systematic review
Abstract
BACKGROUND. Hygiene measures are recommended to prevent toxoplasmosis
during pregnancy, although screening for seroconversion in pregnant
women currently are debated and practices vary among countries. The
purpose of this systematic literature review was to assess the
efficiency of hygiene measures during pregnancy to prevent toxoplasmosis
infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS. We followed the standard MOOSE and
PRISMA criteria when conducting this systematic review and reporting the
results. A systematic literature search was conducted for studies on
congenital toxoplasmosis prevention, toxoplasmosis prevention during
pregnancy, toxoplasmosis prevention and hygiene measures, which were
published between 1970 and August 2020, using the databases of PubMed,
Scope Med, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library. RESULTS Our literature
search identified 3964 articles, 3757 were excluded after review of
title or abstract and 67 studies were considered relevant to the
subject. We reviewed risk factors for toxoplasmosis infection during
pregnancy and for congenital toxoplasmosis, preventive measures for
toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, including: dietary recommendations, pet
care measures, environmental measures, knowledge of risk factors and
ways to control toxoplasmosis infection, knowledge of risk factors for
infection by health professionals, knowledge of primary prevention
measures by pregnant women. CONCLUSION. Hygiene measures are effective
and applicable primary prevention to reduce toxoplasmosis and avoid
congenital toxoplasmosis and its consequences.