Prevention of Congenital Toxoplasmosis

Abstract

Congenital toxoplasmosis is an important cause of congenital brain damage. Most frequent defects are moderate mental retardation and epileptic seizures becoming manifest the later in life the slighter the damages are. Characteristic symptoms (chorioretinitis, cebral calcifications) are rather rare (about 15%). Prenatal toxoplasm infection occurres only in maternal primary infection during pregnancy. The frequency of congenital toxoplasmosis correlates very well with the frequency of primary infections during childbearing age, i. e. rise of contamination curve between 20 and 40 years. By prenatal preventive treatment based on routine testing of pregnant women as recommended 1957, two thirds of congenital infections can be prevented as compared with untreated control groups. Whether prenatally treated but infected children have sequelae as frequent and/or as serious as untreated children is still unknown.