Congenital toxoplasmosis.
BACKGROUND
Infection with Toxoplasma gondii is asymptomatic or mild in immunocompetent people and leads to lifelong immunity, but it can have serious consequences in pregnancy. About five per thousand non-immune pregnant women may acquire toxoplasma infection, with a 10-100% risk of transmission to the baby. Risks of transmission to the baby are higher later in pregnancy, but risks of infection causing harm to the baby are greater earlier in pregnancy.


METHODS
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects on mother and baby of treating toxoplasmosis during pregnancy? What are the effects of treating toxoplasmosis in neonates exposed to toxoplasmosis prenatally? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to July 2007 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).


RESULTS
We found four systematic reviews, RCTs or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: antiparasitic drugs in pregnancy, antiparasitic drugs in neonates.
Kravetz
Jeffrey
J
Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University, West Haven, CT, USA.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000977:Antiparasitic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000188:drug therapy; D014122:Toxoplasma; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D014125:Toxoplasmosis, Congenital / Q000188:drug therapy
D000977:Antiparasitic Agents