Persistent toxoplasma bradyzoite cysts in the brain: incidental finding in an immunocompetent patient without evidence of a toxoplasmosis.
We report on a 72-year-old patient in whom autopsy demonstrated incidentally intracerebral Toxoplasma gondii cysts, locally restricted in the occipital lobe, in association with only a few CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and a mild microglial activation. The patient was HIV-negative. Serologically, there was no evidence for an active inflammation (Toxoplasma gondii specific antibody IgG-positive, IgM-negative). This unusual observation may indicate that in patients with sepsis, who may yield to a state of immunodysbalance, a focal reactivation of parasites may ensue in the absence of conditions predisposing for opportunistic infection.
Pusch
L
L
Department of Neuropathology, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany.
Romeike
B
B
Deckert
M
M
Mawrin
C
C
D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D003560:Cysts / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D020786:Hemangioma, Cavernous, Central Nervous System / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D007249:Inflammation / Q000382:microbiology; D011023:Pneumonia, Staphylococcal / Q000150:complications; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D018805:Sepsis / Q000150:complications*; D014122:Toxoplasma; D016781:Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*