PONE-D-20-41043

Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of Toxoplasma gondii infections among pregnant women in Makassar, Indonesia

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Wahyuni,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

• Please refer to Reviewer #1 & #2: Major criticism: The manuscript entitled “Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of Toxoplasma gondii infections among pregnant women in Makassar, Indonesia” conducted a serological survey and risk factor analysis of Toxoplasmosis in Makassar, Indonesia. The results indicated that past infections T. gondii might associate with “contact with cats”, “un-boiled water”, and “satay consumption.” The finding could provide information of toxoplasmosis about non-medical risk factors in the study area.
  <br />Below are major issues
  1.     Due to the small sample size, the 95% confidence interval of the estimates in the models are quite wide, especially for those significant variables. Thus, the limitation should be discussed in the manuscript.
  2.     In addition to risk factors, what kind of confounding variables you have included the multivariate logistic regression?
  3.     Line 196-198. In fact, similar studies have been conducted in Swaziland and Nigeria. Please check those articles and modify the discussion accordingly.
  4.     Line 214-216. The risk chicken satay consumption could be elaborated more because satay is not undercooked meat. Could you show the data of different meat in the analysis? Why do you refer satay is “undercook meat?

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Chia Kwung Fan, LL.M, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This study intends to detect the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of Toxoplasma gondii infections among

pregnant women in Makassar, Indonesia and their findings are important to the policy-makers to delineate a preventive measures against Toxoplasma infection for women. The results are appropriately justified by the methods. However, a specific term should be clarified throughout the contents, saying oocyst or tissue cyst. In their study , they claimed "the cyst of parasite contaminates food and water in Makassar.". Do you mean oocyst or tissue cyst?

Reviewer #2: The manuscript entitled “Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of Toxoplasma gondii infections among pregnant women in Makassar, Indonesia” conducted a serological survey and risk factor analysis of Toxoplasmosis in Makassar, Indonesia. The results indicated that past infections T. gondii might associate with “contact with cats”, “un-boiled water”, and “satay consumption.” The finding could provide information of toxoplasmosis about non-medical risk factors in the study area.

Below are major issues

1. Due to the small sample size, the 95% confidence interval of the estimates in the models are quite wide, especially for those significant variables. Thus, the limitation should be discussed in the manuscript.

2. In addition to risk factors, what kind of confounding variables you have included the multivariate logistic regression?

3. Line 196-198. In fact, similar studies have been conducted in Swaziland and Nigeria. Please check those articles and modify the discussion accordingly.

4. Line 214-216. The risk chicken satay consumption could be elaborated more because satay is not undercooked meat. Could you show the data of different meat in the analysis? Why do you refer satay is “undercook meat?

**********

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Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of Toxoplasma gondii infection among pregnant mother in Makassar, Indonesia

PONE-D-20-41043R1

Dear Dr. Wahyuni,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Chia Kwung Fan, LL.M, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: All the comments have been addressed by the authors. The manuscript is ready for publication for the current version.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No