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Routine screening for congenital toxoplasmosis may benefit US infants
Olariu TR. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2011;doi:10.1097/INF.0b013e3182343096.
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Congenital toxoplasmosis continues to be an important cause of severe neurologic manifestations in the United States, which stands in stark contrast to Western Europe, where this condition is regularly screened for, according to a study published online this month.
Tudor Rares Olariu, MD, PhD, of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California, and colleagues examined data on 164 infants with congenital toxoplasmosis whose mothers had not been treated while they were pregnant. The data were taken from their database between 1991 and 2005.
According to the researchers, 84% of the infants had a severe clinical manifestation related to congenital toxoplasmosis, including eye disease — which was the most common event — brain calcifications and hydrocephalus. In most instances, all three of these sequelae occurred concurrently.
They said the prevalence of these adverse events was far greater in their population than in other studies conducted in many countries in Western Europe, where screening for this condition is routine.
In all of the cases, testing using serologic and polymerase chain reaction results were critical for diagnosis, with testing for immunoglobulin M and IgA increasing diagnosis sensitivity by 93%, the researchers said.
“Decades ago, some countries responded to the [congenital toxoplasmosis] challenge by implementing national programs for systemic serologic screening of all pregnant women. Others did so by performing routine serologic screening in all newborns,” they wrote. “Yet, despite the fact that all studies performed in the United States continue to reveal that congenitally infected children are born severely affected each year, a national program or policy to address this threat of disease is currently lacking.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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