The laboratory diagnosis of toxoplasmosis.

A case of congenital toxoplasmosis has recently been seen in this hospital The patient, a girl aged 5 years, presented with hydrocephalus, bilateral pes cavus, and blindness. The eyes showed extensive retinochoroiditis thought to be characteristic of toxoplasmosis. Radiographs of the skull showed areas of cerebral calcification. Two years before the birth of the patient the mother had suffered from an illness accompanied by a rash and headache, thought to be rubella. Otherwise there was no family history suggestive of toxoplasmosis, and the mother was in good health. The clinical aspects of this case are being reported elsewhere. Although cases of toxoplasmosis are being reported from all over the world, so far only three cases have been published in England. In the case of Jacoby and Sagorin (1948) the serological confirmation of the diagnosis was obtained from Dr. Sven Gard, of Stockholm, and in the two cases of Farquhar and Turner (1949) the serology was done by Dr. Sabin, of Cincinnati. Owing to the apparent rarity of the disease few laboratories in this country deemed it worth while maintaining a strain of Toxoplasma, but as more