Efficacy of sulfadiazine and pyrimetamine for treatment of experimental toxoplasmosis with strains obtained from human cases of congenital disease in Brazil.

Toxoplasmosis in South America presents great health impacts and is a topic of research interest not only because of the severity of native cases but also due to the predominant atypical genotypes of the parasite circulating in this continent. Typically, symptomatic toxoplasmosis is treated with a combination of sulfadiazine (SDZ) and pyrimethamine (PYR). However, some clinical cases present treatment failures due to an inability of the drugs to control the infection or their significant adverse effects, which can lead to treatment interruption.

IgG and IgM western blot assay for diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of western blot (WB) analysis as a diagnostic tool for congenital toxoplasmosis in 215 newborn infants. The children were submitted to clinical examinations to assess macular, neurological and hearing signals. The WB results obtained were compared to the persistence of IgG antibodies at the end of 12 months, which is regarded as the "gold standard" diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis.