[Postnatal therapy for congenital toxoplasmosis: a comparison of 2 different treatment approaches].

Abstract

Protocols recommended in the USA and Germany for the postnatal treatment of congenital toxoplasmosis are mainly based on the National Collaborative Chicago-based Congenital Toxoplasmosis Study that calls for daily administration of pyrimethamine in combination with sulfadiazine for several months, then 3 times a week. The recommended total duration of treatment is 12 months. This scheme necessitates frequent white blood cell counts that often result in the discontinuation of treatment because of severe neutropenia even with the concomitant administration of folinic acid. In contrast, the administration of pyrimethamine with sulfadoxine every 2 weeks for 2 years, as used by a referral centre in Toulouse, France, is associated with less toxicity. The efficacy may even be improved, as judged by the rate of new chorioretinal lesions. In the absence of larger randomised studies the Toulouse protocol appears to have several advantages when a decision has to be made to treat infants with congenital toxoplasmosis.

• Authors: A Pohl-Schickinger, C Feiterna-Sperling, K Weizsäcker, C Bührer
• Journal: Zeitschrift fur Geburtshilfe und Neonatologie (Z Geburtshilfe Neonatol) Vol. 216 Issue 2 Pg. 73-6 (Apr 2012) ISSN: 1439-1651 [Electronic] Germany
• Vernacular Title: Postnatale Therapie der konnatalen Toxoplasmose: Ein Vergleich zweier unterschiedlicher Vorgehensweisen.
• PMID: 22517047 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, English Abstract, Journal Article)
• Copyright: © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Chemical References

• Antiprotozoal Agents
• Sulfadiazine
• Pyrimethamine

Topics

• Antiprotozoal Agents (administration & dosage)
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
• Female
• Germany
• Humans
• Male
• Postnatal Care (methods)
• Pyrimethamine (administration & dosage)
• Sulfadiazine (administration & dosage)
• Toxoplasmosis, Congenital (drug therapy)
• Treatment Outcome
• United States