Evaluation of Knowledge of Students of the Lorestan University of Medical Sciences about Congenital Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is the most important parasitic infection associated with central nervous system. Sufficient knowledge and information about congenital toxoplasmosis and its effective factors is very helpful for health graduates in the prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of the disease in infants. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge level of senior students related to pregnant women in Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran, about congenital toxoplasmosis.

This study included 177 students who would deal with pregnant women in their future careers. The studentschr('39') knowledge and information about congenital toxoplasmosis were assessed and measured based on a pre-designed questionnaire. The Mann-Whitney and Chi-square tests were used to compare the obtained data.

The results of this study showed that the studentschr('39') knowledge about congenital toxoplasmosis was not in a desired range (4.72±71.14%). Based on the results, the level of knowledge was significantly lower in nursing and nutrition students (P=0.013), younger age groups (P=0.013), dormitory residents (P=0.002), and undergraduates (P<0.001), compared to other students (P<0.05).

The results of the present study indicated the poor level of information of senior students related to pregnant women about congenital toxoplasmosis. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the disease and its irreparable damage to the fetus, development of plans to increase studentschr('39') awareness of the disease, as well as ways of transmission and prevention.