[Toxoplasmic pneumonia with generalization (author's transl)]

An anatomo-clinical observation of toxoplasmic pneumonia with generalization in a six-year old child is reported. The serology of toxoplasmosis is positive. The histopathological examination revealed an interstitial pneumonia with toxoplasma located in the tumified alveolar lining cells and in the intra-alveolar macrophages. Parasitic lesions were also observed in the myocardium, peripheral striated muscle, liver, spleen, adrenal gland, lymph nodes, digestive tract and bone marrow. In the absence of the isolation of a toxoplasma strain, the diagnosis was based on the examination of a bone marrow smear performed the day before death. The proliferating forms of Toxoplasma gondii were abundant and characteristic. These data were confirmed by an ultrastructural study of toxoplasma in the lung and myocardium of the patient. In rapidly evolutive generalized toxoplasmosis of this type, the existence of a particular site is obvious but difficult to define. However, this study points out the usefulness of a bone marrow study in the hope of determining an etiological diagnosis with little delay which would thus increase the chances of an effective therapy.