Acquired Toxoplasmosis

Since the introduction of reliable, quantitative serologic methods,1cases of congenital toxoplasmosis have been diagnosed with increasing frequency. However, knowledge of the epidemiology and the pathogenesis of the disease is still deficient. It is known that the fetus is infected in utero because symptoms are manifest at birth and because mothers of children with congenital toxoplasmosis have in all cases shown strongly positive serologic reactions. Nevertheless, the majority of mothers have appeared healthy, without any history of definite illness during pregnancy; on postnatal examination, no characteristic clinical signs of disease have yet been demonstrated. Consequently, we must assume the existence of a mild form of acquired toxoplasmic infection, or perhaps even a form not apparent clinically. Besides such subclinical forms, there have been thus far only few known cases of acquired toxoplasmosis in which significant clinical signs have been present and in which the diagnosis has been verified through