Congenital toxoplasmosis in Tasmania

In a prospective study, 9037 cord sera from Tasmanian children were tested using the Toxoplasma indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). There were 494 positive reactors at the screening titre of 1:64. These reacting sera were titrated out and were also tested in the immunoglobulin M (IgM) Toxoplasma IFAT. No specific IgM antibodies were detected, but, even so, 33 of the sera had titres of 1:512 or greater. Repeat samples from 20 of the children with high titres revealed a substantial decline in titre. It is believed that these results indicate that congenital toxoplasmosis is not an important cause of perinatal morbidity in Tasmania.