Ascending paralysis due to myelitis in a newborn with congenital toxoplasmosis.

We present a female neonate in her second week of life with borderline microcephaly, microphthalmia and progressive ascending sensory and motor deficit leading to complete paralysis with respiratory failure and death at 27 days of age. Neurological imaging revealed, in addition to cerebral atrophy, marked hydrocephalus, ependymal basal ganglia calcification, leptomeningeal enhancement, and patchy myelitis throughout the entire spinal cord. CSF cytological examination revealed the presence of a mononuclear pleocytosis with Toxoplasma gondii trophozoites free in the CSF and within the cytoplasm of some macrophages, and a 100-fold raised protein content. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of clinical acute spinal cord involvement in congenital toxoplasma infection, proven by the presence of toxoplasma trophozoite in the CSF.