International Journal of Advances in Medicine | November 2020 | Vol 7 | Issue 11 Page 1622 International Journal of Advances in Medicine Suharsono H et al. Int J Adv Med. 2020 Nov;7(11):1622-1625 http://www.ijmedicine.com pISSN 2349-3925 | eISSN 2349-3933 Original Research Article Risk factors of Toxoplasma encephalitis among people living with HIV/AIDS at Wangaya hospital in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia: a case control study Hamong Suharsono 1 , Ketut Suryana 2 *, Mochamad P. Pujasakti 3 INTRODUCTION Toxoplasma encephalitis (TE) is the most frequent AIDS- related opportunistic infection. T. gondii infects approximately 30 to 50% of the human population in both developed and developing countries. 1-5 In majority of immunocompetent human hosts, T. gondii ensue a latent infection characterized by the persistence of organism in tissues such as brain, skeletal muscles and heart without any signs and stmptoms. 3,6,7 In chronically infected individuals who develop defects in cell-mediated immunity/immunocompromised patients/patients infected with HIV, a symptomatic disease more likely occurs as a result of reactivation of latent infection, especially if their CD4 count decreases below 200 cells/μl. 8 Toxoplasmosis among PLWHA manifests primarily as a life threatening condition, TE, brain abscesses and death. 9,10 Considering that there are no TE associated risk factors data in our hospital. This study was designed to identify ABSTRACT Background: Toxoplasma encephalitis (TE) is the most frequent AIDS-related opportunistic infection. T. gondii infects the human population in both developed and developing countries. Toxoplasmosis among PLWHA manifests primarily as a life-threatening condition, TE, brain abscesses and death. Objective was to identify the risk factors of Toxoplasma encephalitis (TE) among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Methods: A case control study was conducted during May to November 2018. The study participants consisted of 90 PLWHA; 30 PLWHA with history of TE (cases) and 60 PLWHA without history of TE (controls). Data such as: socio-demographic, laboratory results, head CT scan findings were collected from the medical record and was analyzed using SPSS version 18. Results: A total of 90 participants PLWHA were enrolled, 30 participants as cases and 60 participants as a control. 49 (54.4%) participants were males and 41 (45.6%) participants were females. Among the risk factors evaluated; the lower lymphocyte level (p=0.016), the lower cluster differentiation (CD) 4 level (p=0.003), no taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) (p=0.000) were observed to be an independent associated risk factor of TE. Conclusions: Our findings suggest lower lymphocyte levels, lower CD4 count and no taking HAART may constitute a significant associated risk factor for TE in PLWHA. Keywords: People living with HIV/AIDS, Toxoplasma encephalitis, Associated risk factors 1 Department of Biochemistry, Veterinary Faculty of Udayana, University in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia 2 Department of Medicine, Merpati Clinic, Wangaya HIV Study Group (WHSG), Allergy and Clinical Immunology Services Unit at Wangaya, Bali, Indonesia 3 Ministry of Research and Technology/National Agency of Research and Innovation, Indonesia Received: 01 September 2020 Accepted: 06 October 2020 *Correspondence: Dr. Ketut Suryana, E-mail: ketutsuryana@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20204511