Sketchy Micro: Toxoplasmosis

Question 1

What are the three ways to contract Toxoplasma?

Answer 1

• Eating raw meat (cat kicking over bowl of meat with cysts)
• Coming into contact with animal feces that contains oocytes (woman changing cat box with bird egg in it)
• Vertical transmission (pregnant woman at center of scene)

Question 2

In immunocompromised patients, T. gondii can cause _________________.

Answer 2

multiple brain abscesses that show up as ring-shaped enhancing lesions

(This is represented by the cat dressed like Gandhi with the glasses that have extra rings on them.)

Question 3

How can you differentiate Toxoplasma brain abscesses from CNS lymphoma?

Answer 3

Biopsy

This is represented by the pin sticking in the red encephalitis cap that the Gandhi cat is wearing.

Question 4

What is the “classic triad” of congenital toxoplasmosis?

Answer 4

• Periventricular calcifications (kitten with milk on its head)
• Hydrocephalus (kitten with fish bowl on head)
• Chorioretinitis (flash with nasty covering)
• Deafness (cat dressed like Beethoven)

Question 5

What’s the best treatment for Toxoplasmosis?

Answer 5

Sulfadiazine-pyramethamine

Recall the DYEd eggs with PYRamids.

Question 6

When should you prophylactically treat toxoplasmosis?

Answer 6

When AIDS patients have CD4 counts less than 100 and they test positive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG (like the cat dressed as Ben Franklin –whose face is on the $100 –holding the kite with the IgG-shaped key)