Toxoplasmosis in pregnancy: research on 2295 women in Rome and its province

The authors report the data concerning 2295 women tested for toxoplasmosis immunodiagnosis, in the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases of "La Sapienza" University of Rome in the years 1993-1994. Four hundred eleven cases (17.9%) were positive for IgG only; 2 cases (0.1%) for IgM only; 15 cases (0.6%) for both IgG and IgM while 1867 cases (81.4%) were negative. 1668 women were pregnant. In this group 260 (15.6%) were positive for IgG only, 2 (0.1%) for IgM only, and 10 (10.6%) for both IgG and IgM; in one case there was a spontaneous absorption in the 10th week of pregnancy, in another case a still-birth in the 20th week with brain lesions; a child was born with phocomelia of the right arm and one with a clubfoot. While it is possible to explain the absorption and the still-birth with the toxoplasma infection, it is difficult to understand the causes of the abnormality of the limbs.