Lyon (AFP)

France has implemented for 25 years a program of prevention of congenital toxoplasmosis unique in the world: this prenatal screening at a significant cost, is it effective? Absolutely, answers a French medico-economic study.

Published in the scientific journal Plos One, this study is the result of the work of a team of parasitologists from the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), epidemiologists from Dijon and French and American health economists.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection (Toxoplasma gondii), mostly benign. However, children whose mothers contract during pregnancy may also be infected, with potentially severe consequences: hydrocephalus, neurological disorders, serious eye damage ...

In France, thanks to the prevention program, only 800 women per year, out of some 767,000 births in 2017, contract the disease during their pregnancy and 150 babies are affected by toxoplasmosis.

"The decision-makers are asking questions about the financial efforts made for this program, but this remains in the nails of the other programs in France and the cost-benefit ratio is favorable," says Professor Martine Wallon, head of the department of parasitology of the Red Cross. The study goes in the same direction.

Beyond the reduction of maternal-fetal transmission, the value of prenatal screening is to reduce the severity of the disease through early postnatal diagnosis and treatment, she adds.

"Prenatal screening is cost-effective compared to neonatal screening in areas of moderate prevalence," the study concludes. "In addition, women at risk being followed very closely, they are better informed of good practices to avoid contracting toxoplasmosis".

"We were able to prove that the program was efficient in the short term, one year after birth, and in the longer term, when the majority of the sequelae of the infections are recognized," adds Christine Binquet epidemiologist at the University Hospital of Dijon.

© 2019 AFP