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Relationship between Toxoplasma gondii infection and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract:

Introduction: toxoplasmosis is a disease widely distributed worldwide caused by the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii, an opportunistic organism that infects humans, developing the disease asymptomatically or with mild clinical manifestations, although in immunocompromised patients, it can affect different organs causing brain and eye lesions and even causing death. The activation of immunological mechanisms in response to the parasite is the main reason for the clinical manifestations observed in these patients. Several investigations establish a possible relationship between T. gondii infection and the appearance of Diabetes mellitus 2, a metabolic disease with a high prevalence in the world, representing 90 % of the cases of diabetes worldwide, responsible for a high morbimortality rate in humans. Objective: to analyze the existing evidence on the relationship between T. gondii seropositivity and the onset of diabetes mellitus. Method: a bibliographic search was carried out in databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar using key terms related to T. gondii, diabetes mellitus, immune response, seroprevalence, T. lymphocytes, insulin, and immunoglobulins. More than 30 articles were included in the review. Conclusions: evidence indicates that T. gondii infection may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus in populations exposed to this parasite worldwide, with important implications for public health systems. This suggests the need for prevention and treatment of toxoplasmosis as an essential factor in preventing the onset of Type 2 Diabetes.