Incidence of congenital toxoplasmosis among infants born to HIV-coinfected mothers: case series and literature review

• Autor(a) principal: Campos,Flávia Alves
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Andrade,Gláucia Manzan Queiroz de, Lanna,Antônio de Pádua Santos, Lage,Bruno Freitas, Assumpção,Maria Vitória Mourão, Pinto,Jorge A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-86702014000600609
• topic: Congenital toxoplasmosis; HIV; Co-infection

Introduction:There is a paucity of data on the occurrence of congenital toxoplasmosis in children born to mothers dually infected with HIV and Toxoplasma gondii.Objective:To evaluate aspects of the mother–infant pairs associated with vertical transmission of toxoplasmosis in women co-infected with HIV in a referral center for perinatally acquired infections in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.Methods:Descriptive study of HIV vertically exposed children, with congenital toxoplasmosis, followed at a referral center (cohort/Belo Horizonte). Prenatal and post-natal variables for the mother–infant pairs were evaluated. A literature review with no filtering for time and language was performed to identify reports of congenital toxoplasmosis in HIV vertically exposed children.Results:Among 2007 HIV vertically exposed children evaluated in the period from 1998 to 2011, 10 cases of congenital toxoplasmosis were identified (incidence: 0.5%, 95% confidence interval: 0.24–0.91). In searching the literature 22 additional cases in 17 reports were found. Combining the findings of our cohort with other reported cases, 50% (16/32) of congenital toxoplasmosis in HIV vertically exposed children were from Brazil. The cases of congenital toxoplasmosis in HIV vertically exposed children identified in Brazil occurred mainly in the post-Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy era (p = 0.002) and presented a lower death rate (p = 0.003) than those from other countries. In the cohort/Belo Horizonte, HIV infection was identified mainly during gestation; T. gondii vertical transmission was observed in pregnant women with CD4+>500 cells/mm3 and latent toxoplasmosis. High rates of ocular lesions (87.5%) and central nervous system involvement (70%) were detected.Conclusions:The risk of vertical transmission of T. gondii in HIV-infected women is low and has been usually associated with maternal immunosuppression and elevated viral load. However, our findings of congenital toxoplasmosis in children born to HIV-infected mothers with latent toxoplasmosis and not immunosuppressed emphasize the need for careful follow-up in these cases.