title: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome with disseminated toxoplasmosis presenting as an acute pulmonary and gastrointestinal illness.
abstract: Encephalitis due to the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii has emerged as a common cause of central nervous system disease in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Extraneural disease is less common and more difficult to diagnose. We report a case of widely disseminated toxoplasmosis that presented as acute gastrointestinal and pulmonary disease in a patient without a prior diagnosis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The diagnosis of toxoplasmosis was made only at autopsy. Antemortem diagnosis of disseminated T gondii infection requires a high degree of clinical suspicion and the prompt utilization of appropriate diagnostic testing. Since toxoplasmosis is a potentially treatable opportunistic infection, diagnosis allows the swift institution of anti-Toxoplasma therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Mass. 02215.
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Hemphill
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Marasco
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ciano
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology