Neurological and Neurobehavioral Disorders Associated with Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Humans

Table 1

Studies conducted examining possible linkages of T. gondii infection with neurobehavioral symptoms and disorders.

Disease	Reference	# of subjects	Mean age (yr)	Linkage	Finding
Alzheimer's	Kusbeci et al. [22]	71		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with Alzheimer's
	Mahami-Oskouei et al. [76]	150		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Alzheimer's
	Perry et al. [72]	219		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Alzheimer's
	Bouscaren et al. [73]	1662		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Alzheimer's
	Cong et al. [74]	88		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Alzheimer’s
	Menati Rashno et al. [77]	87		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Alzheimer’s
	Menati Rashno et al. [77]	174		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Alzheimer’s
Bipolar disorder	Pearce et al. [85]	7440 (M)		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder I
	Hamdani et al. [86]	216		+	T. gondii seropositivity significantly different between groups (3.6x increased likelihood)
	Fond et al. [99]	266		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with more bipolar disorder depressive episodes
	Del Grande et al. [83]	101	≥40	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder
	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [87]	462		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with a specific type of bipolar disorder
	Afifi et al. [82]	40		+	T. gondii seropositivity and serointensity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder and oxidative stress
	Hamdani et al. [84]	334		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder
	Frye et al. [88]	52	–	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder
	Hamdani et al. [89]	78	42	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder
	Oliveira et al. [90]	305		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder
	Stich et al. [92]	46	–	-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with bipolar disorder
	Del Grande et al. [95]	7440		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with bipolar disorder
	Chaudhury and Ramana [93]	216	–	+	T. gondii maternal seropositivity seen to be associated with bipolar disorder in offspring
	Mortensen et al. [91]	127	27	-	T. gondii maternal seropositivity not seen to be associated with bipolar disorder in offspring
	Freedman et al. [94]	214	Maternal: 27.7; Paternal: 32.2	-	T. gondii maternal seropositivity not seen to be associated with bipolar disorder in offspring
Depression/dysphoria/hopelessness	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [101]	445		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with depression
	Duffy et al. [102]	70		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with depression and dysphoria
	Yalin et al. [103]	37		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with depression
	Nasirpour et al. [103]	174		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with depression
	Groër et al. [105]	414	–	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with depression
	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [109]	400		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with depression in pregnant women
	Gale et al. [108]	1846		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with major depressive disorder
	Flegr and Hodný [110]	5535		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with depression
	Wadhawan et al. [21]	306		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with dysphoria and hopelessness
	Pearce et al. [20]	7440 (M)		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with unipolar mood disorders such as depression
	Cong et al. [74]	78		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with depression
	Zaki et al. [111]	168		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with depression
	Nourollahpour Shiadeh et al. [112]	360		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with depression
	Shahnaz et al. [186]	180	–	-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with depression
	Abd El-Aal et al. [114]	178		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with depression
Epilepsy	Ngoungou et al. [17]	2888 (M)	All ages	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be an epilepsy risk factor
	Palmer [18]	204 (M)	No ages listed	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with epilepsy, especially cryptogenic epilepsy
	Stommel et al. [119]	45	43	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with cryptogenic epilepsy
	Ngô et al. [59]	149	–	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be significantly higher in epilepsy patients
	Abd El-Aal et al. [114]	178		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with epilepsy
	Eltantawy et al. [128]	192		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with cryptogenic epilepsy
	Allahdin et al. [129]	185		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with epilepsy
	Eraky et al. [130]	90		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with cryptogenic epilepsy
	Zibaei et al. [131]	170	–	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with epilepsy
	Yazar et al. [132]	150		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with epilepsy
	Cong et al. [74]	104		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with epilepsy
	Babaie et al. [118]	627		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with epilepsy
	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [125]	198		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to increase the risk of certain types of epilepsy
	Akyol et al. [117]	150		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with epilepsy
	Miman et al. [116]	55		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with epilepsy
Headaches	Koseoglu et al. [134]	104		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with migraines
	Flegr and Escudero [137]	1266		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with migraines
	Jouyani et al. [138]	100		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with migraines
	Prandota [133]	108		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with migraines
	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [136]	210		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with headaches, but high serointensity seen to be associated with recurring headaches
OCD	Flegr and Horáček [140]	7471		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with OCD
	Miman et al. [16]	142		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be significantly higher in OCD patients (48%) than controls (19%)
	Nayeri Chegeni et al. [143]	9873 (M)	All ages	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with OCD
	Akaltun et al. [141]	60	Children and adolescents	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with increased risk of OCD in children and adolescents
	Çakın Memik et al. [142]	87		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with OCD
	Cong et al. [74]	82		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with OCD
	Zaki et al. [111]	179		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with OCD
	Flegr and Escudero [137]	1256		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with OCD
Sleep	Ahmad et al. [151]	2031		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with sleep disturbances
	Corona et al. [153]	833		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with sleep disturbances
	Dard et al. [152]	170	53 (median age)	-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with sleep disturbances
Suicide	Okusaga et al. [49]	950		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with past suicidal behavior in young schizophrenic patients
	Yagmur et al. [154]	400		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with suicide
	Ling et al. [155]	WHO Europe	All ages	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with suicide in women of postmenopausal age
	Bak et al. [156]	290		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with suicide attempts
	Coryell et al. [158]	222		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with suicide attempts
	Dickerson et al. [159]	72		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with suicide attempts
	Ansari-Lari et al. [160]	99	—	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with suicide attempts
	Arling et al. [161]	257		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with suicide
	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [162]	156		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with suicide attempts
	Sari and Kara [157]	100	16	-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with suicide attempts
	Sugden et al. [202]	837	38	-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with suicide attempts
Parkinson’s disease	Miman et al. [23]	92		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
	Ramezani et al.	150		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
	Mahami-Oskouei et al. [163]	150		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
	Zhou et al. [164]	1086 (M)		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
	Celik et al. [48]	100		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
	Fallahi et al. [165]	230		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [203]	260		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
	Gendy et al. [166]	90	53	-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with Parkinson's disease
Schizophrenia	Torrey and Yolken [167]	(M)	–	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Leweke et al. [14]	148		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with recent onset schizophrenia
	Cetinkaya et al. [15]	200		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Alipour et al. [179]	124		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Muflikhah et al. [178]	94	–	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Burgdorf et al. [177]	81912		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Kezai et al. [180]	140		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Fond et al. [181]	250		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Cong et al. [74]	89		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Alvarado-Esquivel et al. [204]	218		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Zaki et al. [111]	214		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Ansari-Lari et al. [160]	251		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Wang et al. [205]	800		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Khademvatan et al. [186]	100		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia, higher prevalence in females than males
	Flegr et al. [184]	173		+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia, higher prevalence in males than females
	Al-Hussainy et al. [185]	177	–	+	T. gondii seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia, higher prevalence in males than females
	Karabulut et al. [183]	145		-	T. gondii seropositivity not seen to be associated with schizophrenia
	Xiao et al. [190]	837	–	+	T. gondii maternal seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia in offspring
	Mortensen et al. [191]	1366	–	+	T. gondii maternal seropositivity seen to be associated with schizophrenia in offspring
	Brown [189]	186		-	T. gondii maternal seropositivity not seen to be associated with schizophrenia in offspring

A linkage "+" indicates a statistically significant association with T. gondii as determined by the original authors, whereas a "-" indicates that the association does not meet their statistical threshold. represents data from the European Mortality Database and varies in countries and years. POMS: profile of mood states. (M): meta-analysis.