Question:medium
Which of the following is NOT true regarding toxoplasmosis?
Which of the following is NOT true regarding toxoplasmosis?
Show Hint
Most adult toxoplasma infections are silent; only a small fraction cause noticeable symptoms.
Updated On: Jul 8, 2026
- IgG antibody indicates congenital infection
- Most infections are anthroponotic
- Adult infections are mainly symptomatic
- Toxoplasma encephalitis occurs in immunocompetent persons
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Start from what actually happens after a healthy adult catches toxoplasma.
In a person with a normal immune system, the parasite is usually contained quickly and quietly. Most people never even know they were infected, and it is picked up later only because a blood test happens to show antibodies.
Step 2: Put a number on it.
Surveys consistently find that somewhere around 80 to 90 percent of adult toxoplasma infections cause no noticeable illness at all. Only a smaller share cause the mild swollen glands and low fever that some patients do report. This means the idea that "adult infections are mainly symptomatic" gets the proportion backwards.
Step 3: Walk past the other statements briefly.
Persisting IgG in an infant beyond the window where mother's antibody should have faded is accepted as a sign of congenital infection, so that statement stands. The mother-to-fetus route for congenital cases is a person-to-person link in the transmission story, so calling that route anthroponotic is reasonable. Encephalitis from toxoplasma is mostly a disease of weakened immunity, but it is not absolutely restricted to immunocompromised people, occasional cases occur in the immunocompetent too, so that statement is treated as true here.
Step 4: Land on the false statement.
Only the claim about adult infections being "mainly symptomatic" clashes with the real picture, where silent infection is actually the norm.
\[ \boxed{\text{Adult infections are mainly symptomatic (this is false)}} \]
In a person with a normal immune system, the parasite is usually contained quickly and quietly. Most people never even know they were infected, and it is picked up later only because a blood test happens to show antibodies.
Step 2: Put a number on it.
Surveys consistently find that somewhere around 80 to 90 percent of adult toxoplasma infections cause no noticeable illness at all. Only a smaller share cause the mild swollen glands and low fever that some patients do report. This means the idea that "adult infections are mainly symptomatic" gets the proportion backwards.
Step 3: Walk past the other statements briefly.
Persisting IgG in an infant beyond the window where mother's antibody should have faded is accepted as a sign of congenital infection, so that statement stands. The mother-to-fetus route for congenital cases is a person-to-person link in the transmission story, so calling that route anthroponotic is reasonable. Encephalitis from toxoplasma is mostly a disease of weakened immunity, but it is not absolutely restricted to immunocompromised people, occasional cases occur in the immunocompetent too, so that statement is treated as true here.
Step 4: Land on the false statement.
Only the claim about adult infections being "mainly symptomatic" clashes with the real picture, where silent infection is actually the norm.
\[ \boxed{\text{Adult infections are mainly symptomatic (this is false)}} \]
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