Congenital toxoplasmosis and deafness. An investigation.

Abstract

In conclusion, it may be said that congenital toxo-plasmosis as a cause of deafness is unlikely in man; it could not be said to be impossible. Acceptable criteria for such a diagnosis are difficult to see [Wright, 1971]. Low antibodies in the mother might be a factor in favour of transmission; high antibodies and evidence of infection during the relevant pregnancy would most likely lead to a classical case of congenital toxoplasmosis resulting in foetal death, or an infant living with many defects. Such a case would of course present little difficulty, and KELEMEN’s [1958] cases were presumably in this group. In the present experimental study no lesions were produced in the bulla or cochlea in guinea-pigs.