| Abstract: | BACKGROUND: In September 2002, an outbreak of toxoplasmosis was noted in a male boarding high school on the Aegean coast of Turkey. We have focused our efforts to investigate the sex hormones in this population. METHODS: Blood samples were collected from 40 male patients, 17-18 years old, who also had positive titres of antibody to Toxoplasma gondii. Serum FSH, LH, free testosterone (FT), total testosterone (TT), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and macrophage-inflammatory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha) concentrations were measured in all patients and 20 control subjects. Initially, the patients were divided on the basis of the levels of sex hormones into the following groups: patients who had normal sex hormone levels (n = 31) as group A and patients with low sex hormone levels (n = 9) as group B. RESULTS: IL-1beta levels were found to be higher in group B patients than group A. The levels of IL-1beta correlated significantly in a negative manner with FSH, LH, FT and TT in all patients with acute toxoplasmosis (n = 40). CONCLUSIONS: Acute toxoplasma infection may cause temporary hypogonadotrophic gonadal insufficiency regardless of the course of the disease. |
