[A clinicopathological study of eighteen autopsy cases with acquired toxoplasmosis]

Eighteen autopsy cases of acquired toxoplasmosis in New York City were studied. Seventeen cases were with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and one patient with Hodgkin's disease. All 18 cases involved the brain and nine of them disseminated to the heart (8 cases), lung (4 cases), pancreas (3 cases), alimentary tract (2 cases) and urogenital organs (3 cases). The authors divided the acquired toxoplasmosis into (1) immunocompetent, (2) immunocompromised and (3) immunodeficient types. The autopsy findings showed that the brain, heart and lung were the most susceptible organs. Pseudocysts were also found in lungs and alimentary tract, suggesting an autoinfection by swallowing sputum containing Toxoplasma. Toxoplasma in the urogenital organs might become a source for sexual transmitted toxoplasmosis.