Curriculum · Neurology
Cerebral toxoplasmosis
What it is
Toxoplasmosis of the brain belongs to the HIV patient. It is what multiple ring enhancing lesions in such a patient stand for. The organism, Toxoplasma gondii, is a protozoal infection, and its transmission is by poorly cooked meats and contaminated vegetables. What it can infect is two: the eye, giving posterior uveitis and retinitis; and the CNS, giving encephalitis, stroke and seizures - so the brain is one of the two places it lands, not the whole of the disease.
How it is diagnosed
What is seen is multiple ring enhancing lesions. The IgG antibody is not diagnostic, so IgG alone does not name it. The diagnostic stage of the parasite is either serological diagnosis, or direct identification of the parasite from peripheral blood, amniotic fluid, or in tissue sections.