Toxoplasmosis history and symptoms
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
History and Symptoms
Acquired infection with Toxoplasma in immunocompetent persons is generally an asymptomatic infection. However, 10% to 20% of patients with acute infection may develop cervical lymphadenopathy and/or a flu-like illness. The clinical course is usually benign and self-limited; symptoms usually resolve within a few months to a year. Immunodeficient patients often have central nervous system (CNS) disease but may have retinochoroiditis, or pneumonitis. In patients with AIDS, toxoplasmic encephalitis is the most common cause of intracerebral mass lesions and is thought to be caused by reactivation of chronic infection. Toxoplasmosis in patients being treated with immunosuppressive drugs may be due to either newly acquired or reactivated latent infection.
Acute toxoplasmosis
During acute toxoplasmosis, symptoms are often influenza-like: swollen lymph nodes, or muscle aches and pains that last for a month or more. Rarely, a patient with a fully functioning immune system may develop eye damage from toxoplasmosis. Young children and immunocompromised patients, such as those with HIV/AIDS, those taking certain types of chemotherapy, or those who have recently received an organ transplant, may develop severe toxoplasmosis. This can cause damage to the brain or the eyes. Only a small percentage of infected newborn babies have serious eye or brain damage at birth.
Latent toxoplasmosis
Most patients who become infected with Toxoplasma gondii and develop toxoplasmosis do not know it. In most immunocompetent patients, the infection enters a latent phase, during which only bradyzoites are present, forming cysts in nervous and muscle tissue. Most infants who are infected while in the womb have no symptoms at birth but may develop symptoms later in life.[2]
Congenital toxoplasmosis
Congenital toxoplasmosis results from an acute primary infection acquired by the mother during pregnancy. The incidence and severity of congenital toxoplasmosis vary with the trimester during which infection was acquired. Because treatment of the mother may reduce the incidence of congenital infection and reduce sequelae in the infant, prompt and accurate diagnosis is important. Most infants with subclinical infection at birth will subsequently develop signs or symptoms of congenital toxoplasmosis unless the infection is treated. Ocular Toxoplasma infection, an important cause of retinochoroiditis in the United States, can be the result of congenital infection, or infection after birth. In congenital infection, patients are often asymptomatic until the second or third decade of life, when lesions develop in the eye.[1]