[Human toxoplasmosis].

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis infection is transmitted from cat faeces or insufficiently heated meat from e.g. pigs, sheep and goats. If pregnant women are infected with Toxoplasma gondii, there is a risk of infection of the foetus with the possibility of development of congenital toxoplasmosis and, in patients with AIDS, a latent infection may be activated with subsequent fatal encephalitis. Human infections with T. gondii are common but are frequently asymptomatic. The prevalence of T. gondii infection in the Danish population is not known exactly but preliminary investigations among pregnant women have revealed a prevalence of approximately 33% and the annual incidence is calculated to 0.5%. Legal abortion should be offered to pregnant women in whom toxoplasmosis is diagnosed on account of the risk of foetal damage. If legal abortion is not accepted or is not possible, treatment with spiramycin should be instituted. In immunosuppressed individuals with evidence of activation of latent T. gondii infection and children with congenital toxoplasmosis, treatment with combined pyrimethamine and sulphadiazine should be administered. Information about the routes of infection is important, particularly for sero-negative pregnant women as the routes of infection are limited so that it is reasonably easy to avoid infection.