Background: Toxoplsma is a parasite with a global distribution that infect both human and animal, most of human toxoplasmosis is chronic infection. Chronic toxoplasmosis can affect human behavioral and hormonal status.
Objective: In this study the effect of toxoplasmosis on the level of certain hormones (total testosterone, estradiol (E2), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) have been investigated.
Methods: One hundred and ninety serum samples from Kirkuk university students were assayed for Toxoplasma antibody (IgM,IgG), among them 40 (21.1%) samples were positive The serum of positive samples along with control group were assayed for some hormonal levels by using ELIS technique.
Results: From the obtained results after conducting statistical analysis, it has been found that there is a significant differences in testosterone and estradiol concentration in both infected males and females comparing with the uninfected control cohort. The concentration range of testosterone were (12.8-15.5, 1.6-3.1 ng/ml) for each of infected male and female respectively which was significantly higher than the control (6.9-8.0,0.39-o.58 ng/ml) respectively for male and female. The estradiol concentration range in infected cohort were (34.3-39.6, 184.3-197.0 pg/ml) for male and female respectively, comparing with the control (22.2-26.9, 72.8-75.5 pg/ml) for male and female respectively. No significant differences were appeared between the FSH concentrations in infected and control cohort in both male and female. The infected males were a little taller and more depressed than uninfected one.
Conclusions: From the current study we concluded that chronic toxoplasmosis can affect some hormonal concentration in human blood which may change or influence human behavior.