CONTRIBUTION OF PCR IN THE BIOLOGICAL DIA GNOSIS OF ACUTE OCULAR TOXOPLASMOSIS

Diagnosis of acute ocular toxoplasmosis is based essentially on clinic al and therapeutic data. Detection in aqueous humor oi local antibody synthesis and Toxoplasma gondii genetic information have been proposed for that purpose. The results were compared to clinical data. 131 pat ients have been punctured after clinical examination. The study includ ed patients with active retinochoroiditis of presumed toxoplasmic orig in and control patients. Ln sera and in aqueous humor, specific IgG we re quantified by immunoenzymatic technique; Local synthesis of specifi c IgM and IgA were detected by ISAgA. The PCR procedure used chemilumi nescence probing of the B1 gene of T. gondii, II was possible to confi rm the toxoplasma origin in 45 of the 93 acute retinochoroiditis (48,4 %) by combination of PCR and serological tests. T. gondii detection b y PCR was positive in 24/93 cases (26 %). Inflammation and delay separ ated clinical onset and ocular paracentesis seem to act upon biologica l diagnosis.