Toxoplasma gondii infection in healthy individuals may present with which of the following?

• A. Flu-like symptoms
• B. Severe pneumonia
• C. Kidney failure
• D. Apathy

Answer: (A)

In healthy people, infection with Toxoplasma gondii is often asymptomatic, and when symptoms do appear they resemble a mild flu-like illness. This includes fever, fatigue, muscle aches, and sometimes swollen lymph nodes, which reflects the acute phase of infection that many immunocompetent hosts experience and then recover from. Severe pneumonia, kidney failure, or apathy are not typical in individuals with normal immune function; those more often occur in people with weakened immunity or in unusual or congenital cases. So the flu-like presentation best fits how toxoplasmosis usually presents in someone who is otherwise healthy.