Morphological diagnosis by bone marrow aspirate of toxoplasmosis infection in an HIV-positive patient

An HIV-positive woman receiving antiretroviral therapy developed an opportunistic toxoplasma infection, detected by morphological examination of bone marrow aspirate in the absence of serological positivity. The intracellular presence of Toxoplasma gondii was confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy, using a polyclonal antitoxoplasma antiserum on marrow smears. This case report confirms the utility of morphological bone marrow examination for the diagnosis of parasitic infections in patients with impaired host defenses.