Word: toxoplasma
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...case is believed to be like the first U.S. record: the baby who gets the disease in the womb from a mother who has a smoldering, low-grade infection. The baby may be sick at birth, or not until a few weeks later. In either event, the tiny Toxoplasma invaders usually cause inflammation of the brain and spinal cord so severe that it is crippling if not fatal. (Later children of the same mother are believed to be safe because she develops antibodies...
Until 1914, doctors were not sure that toxoplasmosis was a separate ailment, until the mid-'30s were not sure they could recognize it. Diagnosis is made by i) symptoms, 2) testing a patient's blood, 3) finding the malarialike Toxoplasma parasite in the tissues of a dead patient. In the U.S., toxoplasmosis is still a medical collectors' item-a lethal rarity...