Post-treatment assessment of acute Toxoplasma infection during pregnancy

Summary

Serological immune profile in cases of Toxoplasma infection is heterogeneous, and responses may be delayed or fail to be represented: this makes it an unreliable method for diagnosis and/or treatment follow-up. Therefore, the present study relied on a sensitive and specific molecular procedure (nested polymerase chain reaction, PCR), using the whole blood sample to establish the diagnosis of acute maternal toxoplasmosis in 27 pregnant women. All of them received the recommended dose of Spiramycin. Only 19 returned for follow-up visits and completed their pregnancies to full term. The achievement of the treatment regimen was evaluated according to the results of PCR amplification of T. gondii DNA at the end of the treatment course. Patients who continued to have positive PCR results were given another treatment course. After treatment with a single course of Spiramycin, 11(57.9%) patients retained T. gondii DNA in their peripheral blood and in eight (42.1%) patients, T. gondii DNA was absent by PCR: four (21.01%) patients received up to three courses of treatment.