Test Details: Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular parasite, is an important opportunistic pathogen of immunosuppressed patients. In AIDS patients and transplant patients, this infection may result in a life-threatening encephalitis. T. gondii can also cause a fatal infection of the fetus if an infection is acquired during pregnancy. Fetal death or major abnormalities such as blindness and mental retardation may occur when infection is acquired during the first trimester. PCR methods may be useful in identifying T. gondii in CSF of immunosuppressed patients or in the amniotic fluid of mothers thought to be recently infected.