Visual impairment and blindness in ocular toxoplasmosis cases.

Ocular toxoplasmosis is a common vision-threatening disease in Indonesia. Diagnosis of this disease is based on characteristic ophthalmoscopic appearances and laboratory findings. Between 1985 and 1989, the authors retrospectively evaluated 41 children under 12 years of age. Thirteen cases had retinal lesions suspected to be toxoplasmosis but the laboratory findings were negative. The remaining 28 children had a total of 41 eyes diagnosed as ocular toxoplasmosis. Of the 41 affected eyes, vision had decreased to finger counting or less in 23 (56%) eyes and to less than 6/15 in 9 (22%) eyes. In five (12.2%) eyes vision was greater than 6/15, and in four (9.8%) eyes the status of vision was unknown. In addition to the usual signs of toxoplasmosis, signs of strabismus and nystagmus were evident in the cases reviewed. Thus, ocular toxoplasmosis should be suspected in patients, particularly children, with those clinical signs.