The authors have recently experienced 2 cases of ocular texoplasmosis which had poor vision. These cases were presumptive diagnosis of ocular toxoplasmosis by typical ocular lesion and hemmagglutinin test for toxoplasmosis. In addition to clinical observations, a brief review of literature has been described.
Diagnosis ; Toxoplasmosis ; Toxoplasmosis, Ocular*

Researches in veterinary protozoology until the end of World War II were carried out entirely by Japanese workers such as Danagga, Yamada, Yuhoba and Isshiki. After the Korean war, investigations have been made by several Korean researchers such as Lee's, Son, Joen and Jang. The total species and genera of veterinary protozoa reported by authors up to date were 19 genera and 59 species except the commensal ciliates. Incidence of the protozoa were carried out for 4 years(1972-l975) by examining fecal samples and vaginal swabs in order to know the parasitic status of the domestic animals and poultry. The results are shown as followings. In dairy cattle: Entamoeba bovis 41.4 per cent , Eimeria spp. 5.6-15.0 per cent. In native cattle: Entamoeba bovis 47.6 per cent, Tritrichomonas foetus 8.5 per cent. In native horse: Eimeria sp. 10.0 per cent. In goat: Eimeria spp. 100 per cent. In swine: Entamoeba spp. 55.44 per cent, Eimeria spp. 20 per cent, Balantidium coli 66.58 per cent. In dog: Isospora bigemina(Large type) 8.7 per cent, Giardia canis 4.4 per cent. In cat: Isospora spp. 12.8 per cent. In hare: Entamoeba cuniculi 12.0 per cent, Eimeria spp. 20.0 per cent, Chilomastix cuniculi 12.0 per cent , Giardia cuniculi 4.0 per cent. In turkey: Eimeria spp. 33.3 per cent, Hexamita meleagriais 8.3 per cent. In chicken: Eimeria spp. 26.8 per cent. The main protozoan diseases of the domestic animals and poultry in Korea may be summarized from the data reported and surveyed as followings. Coccidiosis; poultry, hare, goat, cattle, swine. Theileriasis; cattle. Babesiasis; cattle, dog. Anaplasmosis; cattle, goat. Eperythrozoonosis; cattle, swine. Leucocytozoonosis; chicken. Histomoniasis; chicken. Toxoplasmosis; swine, cat. Balantidiasis; swine. Besnoitiosis; native cattle. Amoebiasis; swine, cattle. Sarcosporidiosis; Cattle, swine.
parasitology-protozoa ; epidemiology ; cattle ; horse ; swine ; dog ; hare ; turkey ; cat ; Entamoeba bovis ; Eimeria spp. ; tritrichomonas foetus ; Entamoeba spp. ; Balantidium coli ; Isospora bigemina ; Giardia canis ; Isospora spp. ; Entamoeba cuniculi ; Chilomastix cuniculi ; Giardia cuniculi ; Hexamita meleagriais ; Coccidiosis ; Theileriasis ; Babesiasis ; Anaplasmosis ; Eperythrozoonosis ; Leucocytozoonosis ; Histomoniasis ; Toxoplasmosis ; Balantidiasis ; Besnoitiosis ; Amoebiasis ; Sarcosporidiosis

Background & Objective: Symptomatic sarcocystosis has been said to be rare until recent years, when there were reports of outbreaks of febrile myositis for travellers returning from the Malaysian island resorts. In 2012, an outbreak of Sarcocystis nesbitti infection involving 92 college students and staff occurred after returning from Pangkor Island, Malaysia. A few months after recovering from the febrile illness, some patients complained of hair loss. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, clinical features and outcome of this disorder. Methods: All patients who became sick in the outbreak were asked whether they had the hair loss. For those who had, they were interviewed with standard questionnaires, examined and investigated. Patients were followed-up via an online survey 2 years later. Results: Out of 89 patients who were ill, 19 patients (21.4%) complained of alopecia. The mean peak onset was 4 months after the initial illness. Eleven patients (57.9%) reported the hair fall of more than 100 per day. The other symptoms were itch 10 (52.6%), scaling 10 (52.6%), erythema 4 (21.1%), none had scarring. Eleven patients (57.8%) had positive antinuclear factor with high titre (speckled or nucleolar pattern). Two years after the event, 10 had complete or near complete spontaneous recovery, 1 had partial response and 1 had no improvement. Conclusions: A delayed transient diffuse alopecia is seen in close to half of patients with Sarcocystis nesbittiinfection. This high frequency of positive ANF suggested an immune-mediated mechanism.
Sarcocystosis

The authors have recently experienced 3 cases of ocular toxoplasmosis. The diagnosis was based on typical ocular lesions and hemagglutination test for toxoplasmosis. In addition to some clinical observations, a brief review of literature has been described.
Diagnosis ; Hemagglutination Tests ; Toxoplasmosis ; Toxoplasmosis, Ocular*

No abstract available.
Glioblastoma* ; HIV* ; Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral*

A 36-year old female with acute myelogenous leukemia presented with a sudden decrease in vision one month following bone marrow transplantation (BMT). She had been taking multiple immunosuppressants to treat her recently-developed graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). Visual acuity was 20/60 in her right eye and 20/25 in her left. Ophthalmic examination revealed mild inflammatory reaction in both the anterior chamber and the vitreous of both eyes, as well as densely opaque yellow-white infiltrates with well-demarcated borders in the posterior retina of both eyes. She was originally diagnosed as CMV retinitis, but treatment with ganciclovir failed to improve her ocular condition. Subsequent work-up, including serology and brain MRI, led to a diagnosis of combined ocular and cerebral toxoplasmosis. After 6 weeks of antiparasitic therapy, her retinal lesions became inactive and her cerebral lesions improved. Immunosuppressed patients with necrotizing retinochoroiditis should be suspected of having toxoplasmosis. Accurate differentiation between this condition and CMV, and early intervention with the appropriate treatment may be critical to preserve the best vision.
Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; *Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Chorioretinitis/*diagnosis/drug therapy/parasitology ; Clindamycin/therapeutic use ; Cytomegalovirus Retinitis/*diagnosis ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Functional Laterality ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/*surgery ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Toxoplasmosis, Ocular/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole Combination/therapeutic use

Ocular toxoplasmosis is the most frequent etiological factor of the known retinochoroiditis in the world. But there are very few cases of confirmed toxoplasmosis in Korea. In this paper we report a 5 year old girl who had suffered from left visual disturbance since Aug, 1978. The HA. titer for toxoplasmosis was 1:2048 and she had a typical focal exudative retinochoroiditis in the macular lesion and one small daughter lesion on superior temporal retinal arteriolar branch. She was treated with oral acetyl spiramycin(600 mg.) for 6 months. After all the active retinochoroidal lesion was changed into scar tissue and the vision has improved slightly from 0.02 to 0.2 during the followup period of one year. And also the HA. titer had decreased to 1:512. The fluorescein angiographic finding could be a helpful method to determine the healed lesion after anti toxoplasmic theraphy.
Child, Preschool ; Cicatrix ; Female ; Fluorescein ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Nuclear Family ; Retinaldehyde ; Spiramycin* ; Toxoplasmosis ; Toxoplasmosis, Ocular*

Systemic infections that are caused by various types of pathogenic organisms can be spread to the eyes as well as to other solid organs. Bacteria, parasites, and viruses can invade the eyes via the bloodstream. Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of systemic infections, many patients still suffer from endogenous ocular infections; this is particularly due to an increase in the number of immunosuppressed patients such as those with human immunodeficiency virus infection, those who have had organ transplantations, and those being administered systemic chemotherapeutic and immunomodulating agents, which may increase the chance of ocular involvement. In this review, we clinically evaluated posterior segment manifestations in the eye caused by hematogenous penetration of systemic infections. We focused on the conditions that ophthalmologists encounter most often and that require cooperation with other medical specialists. Posterior segment manifestations and clinical characteristics of cytomegalovirus retinitis, endogenous endophthalmitis, toxoplasmosis, toxocariasis, and ocular syphilis are included in this brief review.
Bacteria ; Cytomegalovirus Retinitis ; Diagnosis ; Endophthalmitis ; Eye Infections ; HIV ; Humans ; Inflammation* ; Organ Transplantation ; Parasites ; Specialization ; Syphilis ; Toxocariasis ; Toxoplasmosis ; Toxoplasmosis, Ocular ; Transplants

Ocular toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by the infection with Toxoplasma gondii through congenital or acquired routes. Once the parasite reaches the retina, it proliferates within host cells followed by rupture of the host cells and invasion into neighboring cells to make primary lesions. Sometimes the restricted parasite by the host immunity in the first scar is activated to infect another lesion nearby the scar. Blurred vision is the main complaint of ocular toxoplasmic patients and can be diagnosed by detection of antibodies or parasite DNA. Ocular toxoplasmosis needs therapy with several combinations of drugs to eliminate the parasite and accompanying inflammation; if not treated it sometimes leads to loss of vision. We describe here clinical features and currently available chemotherapy of ocular toxoplasmosis.
Animals ; Antiprotozoal Agents/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Toxoplasma/*isolation & purification ; Toxoplasmosis, Ocular/*drug therapy/parasitology

This prospective study was aimed to detect acute and chronic ocular toxoplasmosis by comparison of anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM and IgG antibody levels and IgG avidity test. One hundred and seventeen patients with ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) who referred to the Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran, Iran were included in this study. Of the patients, 77 cases were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG, and 8 cases were positive for anti-T. gondii IgM. IgG avidity test revealed 11, 4, and 102 cases were low, intermediate, and high, respectively, and 6.8% and 9.4% of cases were positive for IgM and IgG avidity tests, respectively (P=0.632). Agreement (Kappa value) between paired tests IgG-IgM, IgG-IgG avidity, and IgM-IgG avidity was 0.080, 0.099, and 0.721, respectively (P < 0.05). This study showed that conventional serologic tests (IgM and IgG levels) and IgG avidity correlate well each other and can be used to differentiate recent infections from old OT. It seems that reactivated old infections rather than recently acquired infections are majority of Iranian OT patients.
Antibodies ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Iran ; Prospective Studies ; Serologic Tests ; Toxoplasma ; Toxoplasmosis, Ocular