Abstract
Congenital toxoplasmosis is an important cause of congenital brain damage. Most frequent
defects are moderate mental retardation and epileptic seizures becoming manifest the
later in life the slighter the damages are. Characteristic symptoms (chorioretinitis,
cebral calcifications) are rather rare (about 15%). Prenatal toxoplasm infection occurres
only in maternal primary infection during pregnancy. The frequency of congenital toxoplasmosis
correlates very well with the frequency of primary infections during childbearing
age, i. e. rise of contamination curve between 20 and 40 years. By prenatal preventive
treatment based on routine testing of pregnant women as recommended 1957, two thirds
of congenital infections can be prevented as compared with untreated control groups.
Whether prenatally treated but infected children have sequelae as frequent and/or
as serious as untreated children is still unknown.
