Abstract
We report a case of cervical lymphadenopathy caused by toxoplasmosis. The patient was a 26-year-old female and visited our clinic because of multiple right neck lymphadenopathy. A CT scan showed multiple right posterior cervical lymphadenopathy. The results of fine needle aspiration cytology showed class II disease. Histologically, the excised lymph node was characterized by follicular hyperplasia with clusters of epithelioid histocytes. The serological titer against toxoplasma was high. Based on these results, we diagnosed this lymphadenopathy to be toxoplasmosis. After treating the patient with acetylspiramycin for 4 weeks, the lymphadenopathy disappeared. Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by an infection with the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii. An acute infection acquired after birth is asymptomatic but frequently results in the chronic persistence of cysts within the tissues of the host. Toxoplasmosis has many clinical subtypes: lymphadenopathy, encephalitis, chorioretinitis, dissemeinated toxoplasmosis and congenital toxoplasmosis, etc. Toxoplasmic lymphadenitis generally involves the lymph node in the head and neck regions without any systemic symptoms. There are various diseases which present with an enlargement of the cervical lymph nodes including benign or malignant tumors, infectious diseases and sarcoidosis. Therefore, a careful and definite differential diagnosis must always be done in such cases.
