ZukuReview
A female veterinarian is pregnant and her physician tests her serologically for toxoplasmosis.
IgM is negative.IgG is positive.
What is the most appropriate interpretation?
Both mother and baby are safe.
The toxoplasmosis organism causes birth defects in a developing fetus if a mother is infected for the first time in her life while pregnant (ie: IgM positive while pregnant).
Toxoplasmosis is not generally dangerous to immune-competent people and a positive IgG result suggests a previous infection.
There are challenges to toxoplasmosis testing in pregnant women (false positives).
If a pregnant woman is IgM positive, confirmatory tests must be done.
Click here for more on pregnancy and toxoplasmosis.
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