The Ocular Manifestations of Congenital Toxoplasmosis in Five out of 686 Cases of Mental Deficiency Examined in a State Institution for Mentally Retarded Children, Kinston, North Carolina, U.S.A.

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is an infectious disease caused by a protozoal parasite of worldwide geographic distribution. The organism, Toxoplasma gondii, has been known since 1908, when it was demonstrated in the gondi, a North African rodent, by Nicolle and Manceaux and independently by Splendore in the rabbit in Brazil. Benda quotes Hellbrügge as mentioning that Toxoplasma apparently had been discovered in 1900 by Laveran, in the blood of a bird. It has since been found to be an infective agent in a great variety of species of rodents, mammals and birds from almost any part of the world, providing a large reservoir for human infection.