Clinical and Serological Characteristics of Ocular Toxoplasmosis in the Democratic Republic of Congo

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To describe demographic data, clinical features, and serological profiles in a cohort of Congolese patients with ocular toxoplasmosis (OT).

Method

Cross-sectional study, carried out between March 2020 and July 2021 in two ophthalmic clinics in Kinshasa.

Results

The study comprised 95 participants with OT. Fifty-three patients were male (55.8%). The mean age at presentation was 35.6 ± 14.1 years (range 8–69 years); 71 had active OT (74.7%), among them, 33 had primary OT (46.5%), and 38 had recurrences (53.5%). At presentation, 51 patients (53.7%) had visual impairment (VA < 6/18). Retinochoroidal lesions were located in the central retina in 60 patients (63.1%). Patients with primary OT tend to have higher IgG levels than those with recurrent OT (P = .01).

Conclusion

We report the largest cohort of patients with OT in sub-Saharan Africa. In our setting, most patients had recurrent OT with multiple, extensive, and central retinochoroidal lesions.

KEYWORDS:

• Africa
• clinical features
• diagnosis
• ocular toxoplasmosis
• serology

Acknowledgments

We thank Universidad del Rosario for financing the proofreading of this manuscript, and Enago for the manuscript language edition.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research has not received specific aid from public sector agencies, the commercial sector, or non-profit entities.