Clinical Features of Ocular Toxoplasmosis in Korean Patients

Abstract

We report here the records of 10 consecutive Korean patients (10 eyes) with ocular toxoplasmosis which showed the typical clinical manifestations with seropositivity for Toxoplasma gondii specific IgG antibodies by micro-ELISA between 2006 and 2010. Nine patients were males and 1 was female; their age was 50.5±13.8 years. The most common accompanying signs were vitritis (100%), anterior uveitis (70%), and scattered white deposit (80%). Pre-existing retinochoroidal scar was found in 1 (10%) patient. All patients received antiparasitic chemotherapy and systemic corticosteroid treatment, which resolved the presenting attack and recovered the visual acuity better than initial one in 9 patients and worse in 1. Optic atrophy, cataract, and retinal neovascularization were observed during the follow-up period and recurrence was detected in 3 eyes (30%) 6 to 20 months after the initial attack. In Korea, although rarely detected and reported, ocular toxoplasmosis needs more attention in clinical field of retinal diseases.

High Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis Detected by RDT among the Residents of Seokmo-do (Island) in Ganghwa-Gun, Incheon City, Korea

“…The infections can transform into a chronic status, especially in the central nervous system of the individuals affected. The infection is sometimes reactivated in immune compromised patients to cause toxoplasmic lymphadenitis, meningoencephalitis, or ocular toxoplasmosis [6–9]. …”

Spread and genotype of Toxoplasma gondii in naturally infected alpine chamois (Rupicapra r. rupicapra)

“…Therefore, the spread of T. gondii and the distribution of its genotypes must be investigated in animals that may be sources of human infection, including wild ungulates. In this context, several species have been reported as intermediate hosts of T. gondii (Kapperud 1978;Hejlíček et al 1997;Vikøren et al 2004;Magnino et al 2011;Formenti et al 2015), and the zoonotic risk is related to consumption of raw or undercooked meat (Dubey and Beattie 1988; Gauss et al 2006;Park et al 2011), or to the handling of their carcasses (McDonald et al 1990;Dubey 1994;Kapperud et al 1996;Tenter et al 2000). Thus, zoonotic potential should be evaluated in terms of the amount of game meat harvested every year (Ross et al 2001;Gamarra et al 2008;Kijlstra and Jongert 2008).…”

Maintained Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis among the Residents of Jeju Island, Korea

“…Besides the generally accepted risk factors vulnerable to the infection for the older and male [7] there are 2 peculiar traditional equipments (Fig. 2) additionally in Jeju island, the conventional pigsty in the residential regions near seashore and jars to save water in the mid-mountain regions.…”