The presence of IgG is only evidence of previous infection. Rising IgG titres would be indicative of reactivation. However, this often does not occur in the immunocompromised patient. Positive serology therefore only indicates that a patient is at risk of developing toxoplasmosis. In patients presenting with mass lesions, lumbar puncture is often contraindicated due to raised intracranial pressure. If there is no evidence of mass effect, and there is diagnostic uncertainty, CSF examination maybe helpful. Discussion with

the neurosurgical team and an experienced neuroradiologist may be necessary. PCR testing for T. gondii on the CSF has a sensitivity of 50% with a specificity of >94% [79–81]. First line therapy for toxoplasma encephalitis is with pyrimethamine, sulphadiazine, folinic acid for 6 weeks followed

by maintenance therapy (category Ib LDK378 mw recommendation). With increasing experience it is now standard practice to treat any HIV patient selleck chemicals llc with a CD4 count of <200 cells/μL and a brain mass lesion with anti-toxoplasma therapy. Patients should be screened for G6PDH deficiency as this is highly prevalent in individuals originating from Africa, Asia, Oceania and Southern Europe. However, sulphadiazine has been found not to be haemolytic in many G6PDH-deficient individuals although any drop in haemoglobin during therapy should prompt testing. Antimicrobial therapy is effective in toxoplasmosis with 90% of patients showing a response clinically and radiologically within 2 weeks [82]. A response to treatment is good evidence of diagnosis without having to resort to more invasive procedures. Regimens that include sulphadiazine or clindamycin combined with pyrimethamine and folinic

acid show efficacy in the treatment of toxoplasma encephalitis [82–84]. In a randomized clinical trial, both showed comparable efficacy Chloroambucil in the acute phase of treatment, although there was a trend towards less response clinically in the group receiving the clindamycin-containing regimen and significantly more side effects in the sulphadiazine-containing regimen [84]. In the maintenance phase of treatment there was an approximately two-fold increase in the risk of progression in the group who received the clindamycin-containing regimen. On this basis the sulphadiazine-containing regimen is the preferred regimen with the clindamycin-containing regimen reserved for those who are intolerant of sulphadiazine. For acute therapy, because of poor absorption, a loading dose of 200 mg of pyrimethamine followed by 50 mg/day (<60 kg) to 75 mg/day (>60 kg) should be given together with folinic acid 15 mg/day (to counteract the myelosuppressive effects of pyrimethamine) and either sulphadiazine 1–2 g qds, although consideration should be given to weight based dosing with 15 mg/kg qds or clindamycin 600 mg qds. Sulphadiazine and clindamycin have good bioavailability so the oral route is preferred. Some studies show that sulphadiazine can be given.