Brain immunocompetence

Infection with T. gondii is an important cause of diseases of the central nervous system and the eye in immunocompromised as well as immunocompetent individuals. When first acquired by the mother, this infection can be transmitted to the fetus. Infants with the most severe clinical signs in the brain and eye are those infected early in pregnancy when fetal immunity is low (Jamieson et ah, 2009). At birth, infants infected in utero may have intracranial calcification, hydrocephalus, convulsions, and ocular diseases such as retinochoroiditis or inflammation of the retina and choroid, with associated vitritis. The severity of disease is influenced by the trimester in which the infection is acquired by the mother (Dunn et al, 1999 Remington et ah, 2006). A positive correlation exists between the rate of transmission and infection during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy (Desmonts and Couvreur, 1984 Dunn et ah, 1999). 

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