Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Historical perspective
- 1 Biology of toxoplasmosis
- 2 Immunology of toxoplasma infection
- 3 The epidemiology of toxoplasma infection
- 4 Infection in the immunocompetent
- 5 Toxoplasma infection in HIV-infected patients
- 6 Toxoplasma infection in immunosuppressed (HIV-negative) patients
- 7 Maternal and foetal infection
- 8 Prenatal screening for toxoplasma infection
- 9 Newborn screening for congenital toxoplasma infection
- 10 Infections in neonates and infants
- 11 Ocular infection
- 12 Laboratory diagnosis of toxoplasma infection
- 13 Antitoxoplasma chemotherapy
- 14 Toxoplasma vaccines
- Appendices: protocols for treatment and management
- 1 Suggested treatment protocols
- 2 Management of toxoplasma infection in pregnancy
- 3 Hygiene measures to prevent infection
- 4 Classification system and case definitions of Toxoplasma gondii infection in immunocompetent pregnant women and their congenitally infected offspring
- Index
10 - Infections in neonates and infants
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Historical perspective
- 1 Biology of toxoplasmosis
- 2 Immunology of toxoplasma infection
- 3 The epidemiology of toxoplasma infection
- 4 Infection in the immunocompetent
- 5 Toxoplasma infection in HIV-infected patients
- 6 Toxoplasma infection in immunosuppressed (HIV-negative) patients
- 7 Maternal and foetal infection
- 8 Prenatal screening for toxoplasma infection
- 9 Newborn screening for congenital toxoplasma infection
- 10 Infections in neonates and infants
- 11 Ocular infection
- 12 Laboratory diagnosis of toxoplasma infection
- 13 Antitoxoplasma chemotherapy
- 14 Toxoplasma vaccines
- Appendices: protocols for treatment and management
- 1 Suggested treatment protocols
- 2 Management of toxoplasma infection in pregnancy
- 3 Hygiene measures to prevent infection
- 4 Classification system and case definitions of Toxoplasma gondii infection in immunocompetent pregnant women and their congenitally infected offspring
- Index
Summary
History
The important milestones that led to the full knowledge of congenital toxoplasmosis were the discovery of ‘parasitic cysts’ in the retina of a child who died with coloboma and hydrocephaly by Janku in Czechoslovakia (1923), the identification of this organism as toxoplasma by Levaditi in Paris (1928), the discovery of an encephalitozoic infantile granulomatosis associated with toxoplasma and evidence of its prenatal transmission by Wolf et al. (1939). The clinical pattern was delineated first in studies of a large series of patients investigated retrospectively (Feldman 1953; Couvreur & Desmonts 1962) and later in prospective studies (Desmonts & Couvreur 1974a).
Epidemiology
The prevalence of congenital toxoplasma infection in a given community is directly related to the rate of acquired infection in pregnant women adjusted by the 40% rate of materno–foetal transmission. Any evaluation of the prevalence of infection in newborns requires routine screening for seroconversion in the pregnant population and thorough study of their newborn infants. This prevalence can vary over years and it is influenced by preventive measures. This explains why it decreased in Paris from 3 to less than 1 per 1000 live births within 20 years (Remington & Desmonts 1990). The prevalence of neonatal infection has been reported as 0.6 to 2 per 1000 in Alabama, 2 per 1000 in Brussels, 0.25 to 0.7 per 1000 in London and 2 per 1000 in Melbourne. Frenkel (1974b) has proposed a mathematical epidemiological model for such evaluations.
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- Information
- ToxoplasmosisA Comprehensive Clinical Guide, pp. 254 - 276Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001