Parasites, Hosts and Diseases

The Korea Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (대한기생충학·열대의학회)
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Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis: A Case Report

  • Chen, Minhua (Department of Critical Care Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College) ;
  • Ruan, Wei (Department of Communicable Diseases of Control and Prevention, Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) ;
  • Zhang, Lingling (Department of Communicable Diseases of Control and Prevention, Zhejiang Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) ;
  • Hu, Bangchuan (Department of Critical Care Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College) ;
  • Yang, Xianghong (Department of Critical Care Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College)
  • Received : 2019.02.22
  • Accepted : 2019.05.10
  • Published : 2019.06.30
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Abstract

Primary amebic encephalitis (PAM) is a devastating central nervous system infection caused by Naegleria fowleri, a free-living amoeba, which can survive in soil and warm fresh water. Here, a 43-year-old healthy male was exposed to warm freshwater 5 days before the symptom onset. He rapidly developed severe cerebral edema before the diagnosis of PAM and was treated with intravenous conventional amphotericin B while died of terminal cerebral hernia finally. Comparing the patients with PAM who has similar clinical symptoms to those with other common types of meningoencephalitis, this infection is probably curable if treated early and aggressively. PAM should be considered in the differential diagnosis of purulent meningoencephalitis, especially in patients with recent freshwater-related activities during the hot season.

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References

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