CONGENITAL TOXOPLASMOSIS

[摘要] An account is given of congenital toxoplasmosis in a child who died at the age of 43 days. The patient, who was somnolent from birth, showed the following symptoms: bilateral microphthalmia and chronic bilateral uveitis; considerable hydrocephalus internus, mainly symmetric, cerebral calcifications and pronounced typical changes in the cerebrospinal fluid, hypoprothrombinemia and eosinophilia; enlargement of the liver and spleen; marked lability of the body temperature with wide variations.The postmortem findings, both macroscopic and microscopic, were typical in every respect, with pronounced necrotic encephalitis in the cerebrum and characteristic foci of granulomata in the brainstem and the spinal cord. Toxoplasma in the form of pseudocysts were demonstrated in the affected parts of the brain.Typical Toxoplasma were isolated from the spinal fluid on three occasions, from material obtained by liver biopsy and from pieces of brain and spleen removed at autopsy.Serum from the patient as well as from the mother gave a positive neutralization test in rabbits. The in vitro dye test according to Sabin and Feldman yielded a positive result with a high titer value.The strain of Toxoplasma isolated ("G. L.") seems to be serologically identical with the American strains "RH" and "LM."

[学科分类] 儿科学