Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2011 | Case report
Toxoplasmosis in a patient who was immunocompetent: a case report
Published in: Journal of Medical Case Reports | Issue 1/2011
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Introduction
Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that infects up to one-third of the world's population. Although this case is not the first of its kind, it is clinically important since it will help doctors keep a broad differential diagnosis in mind when attending to similar patients.
Case presentation
We present the case of a 20-year-old man of Middle Eastern heritage presenting with only generalized lymphadenopathy who was diagnosed with acute toxoplasmosis.
Conclusion
This case illustrates the important fact that toxoplasmosis can present with just simple lymphadenopathy, and thus can be confused with other infections such as Epstein-Barr virus and other mononucleosis-like illnesses such as cytomegalovirus, HIV with acute retroviral syndrome, cat scratch disease, leishmaniasis and syphilis. This case underlines why appropriate testing should be performed in confusing cases, and helps increase the knowledge about the diagnosis of this disease.