Descripción de un brote epidémico de toxoplasmosis aguda en pacientes inmunocompetentes miembros de las fuerzas militares de Colombia durante operaciones de selva

• Autores: Luis Eduardo Pino, Jorge Enrique Salinas, Myriam Consuelo López
• Localización: Infectio: Revista de la Asociación Colombiana de Infectología, ISSN-e 2422-3794, ISSN 0123-9392, Vol. 13, Nº. 2, 2009
• Idioma: español
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Description of an epidemic outbreak of acute toxoplasmosis in immunocompetent patients from Colombian Armed Forces during jungle operations
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    La toxoplasmosis es una de las infeccionesoportunistas más frecuentes en los pacientesinfectados con el virus de inmunodeficienciahumana (VIH), mientras que, en los pacientesinmunocompetentes, la infección es sintomáticasólo en 10% a 20% de los casos, generalmentecon un comportamiento benigno y autolimitado.En la última década se han informado casosgraves de compromiso visceral por toxoplasmosisaguda en pacientes inmunocompetentes.

  • English

    Toxoplasmosis is a common opportunistic infection in patients infected with HIV/AIDS while in immunocompetent patients this infection causes symptoms only in 10% to 20% of the cases, generally with a benign and autoresolutive course. In the last decade some severe cases with visceral involvement has been reported in immunocompetent patients, thoughthey were isolated or recovered during years.We present the first Colombian report of an epidemic outbreak caused by Toxoplasma gondii in military personnel deployed to rural areas located at La Macarena, Meta, Colombia. All 18 cases were confirmed by IgG indirect immunofluorescence (IFI) with titers higher than 1:1,024 (normal range: 1:16). Their main symptoms were fever, adenopathies and pulmonary and gastrointestinal compromise. One patient developed severe myocardial compromise. All the patients recovered after treatment with  pyrimetamine/sulfadoxine and clyndamicin for 3 weeks. A possible hypothesis for this outbreak was the consumption of contaminated water with oocysts, and probably the severity of the compromise could be elicited by a “wild” strain of the parasite as it is reported in the literature. Unfortunately, it was impossible to isolate and identify the specific strain.