Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
We investigated 32 families of persons with acute toxoplasmosis in which >1 other family member was tested for Toxoplasma gondii infection; 18 (56%) families had >1 additional family member with acute infection. Family members of persons with acute toxoplasmosis should be screened for infection, especially pregnant women and immunocompromised persons.
Introduction
Only isolated case reports and small case series have been published on acute Toxoplasmagondii. infections among family members. When a case of acute toxoplasmosis is identified in a family, additional household members might have been infected around the same time period; family members frequently share common exposures to food or environmental sources potentially contaminated with T. gondii. Identification of additional infections could lead to earlier implementation of appropriate interventions for persons in certain high-risk groups, such as immunocompromised persons and pregnant women.
Large-scale evaluation of the prevalence of acute toxoplasmosis among family members in the United States has not been performed. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of acute toxoplasmosis among household and family members of patients who had acute toxoplasmosis.