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Case Reports
. 2021 Mar 1;14(3):e240809.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2020-240809.

What obstetricians should be aware of: serious side effects of antibiotic toxoplasmosis treatment in pregnancy

Sara Ardabili  1 , Joachim Kohl  2 , Gülseven Gül  2 , Markus Hodel  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

What obstetricians should be aware of: serious side effects of antibiotic toxoplasmosis treatment in pregnancy

Sara Ardabili et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii is usually an asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic, self-limiting disease in immunocompetent individuals. However, during the pregnancy, primary infection can lead to transplacental vertical transmission resulting in congenital toxoplasmosis with possible severe sequelae. The efficacy of systematic screening remains controversial and the effect of antibiotic treatment is unclear. Although main side effects of antibiotic drugs used for toxoplasmosis are well known, mostly from malaria treatment, there is a lack of information about occurrence in pregnant woman treated for toxoplasmosis. We report a case of a healthy pregnant woman with primary toxoplasmosis infection in the second trimester, who developed a severe adverse reaction in form of hypersensitivity pneumonia after antibiotic treatment with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine and discuss the literature.

Keywords: infectious diseases; materno-fetal medicine; pregnancy; unwanted effects / adverse reactions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chest radiography showing multiple infiltrates in both lungs with diagnosis of bilateral pneumonia.
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References

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