Onset of ocular complications in congenital toxoplasmosis associated with immunoglobulin M antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii.

Four patients with congenital toxoplasmosis serologically diagnosed by the Sabin-Feldman test (SFT) and the IgM-indirect fluorescent antibody test (IgM-IFAT) in the first year of life presented with eye disease between the age of 21 months and ten years. Repeated serological testing revealed increasing levels of specific antibodies as measured by the SFT. IgM antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii were detected in all four patients by the immunosorbent agglutination assay, in two by the IgM-IFAT and in three by the IgM-indirect haemagglutination test. Findings suggest that specific IgM antibodies reappear at the time of reactivation of congenital toxoplasmosis later in life, or possibly persist for an extraordinary long period (up to ten years).