• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.150-156
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• 2014

Despite its rare occurrence, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment for neonatal herpes simplex virus infection are mandatory due to its high morbidity and mortality. In Korea, there has been no epidemiologic data on neonatal herpes simplex virus infection, and even case reports are rare. We observed a 16-day-old neonate who presented with fever and seizures. We diagnosed her with meningoencephalitis caused by herpes simplex virus type 2 based on the polymerase chain reaction test, and treated her with intravenous acyclovir and anticonvulsants. The seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2 sharply increases in women in their 30s, and the average age for childbirth has increased to older than 30 years of age in Korea; we therefore expect that the incidence of neonatal herpes simplex virus type 2 infection will rise in Korea, and more attention should be directed to neonatal herpes simplex virus type 2 infection. We report this newborn patient's case along with a literature review.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.406-409
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• 2007

A 12-year-old female mixed Chihuahua dog was referred because of acute blindness and progressive tetraparesis. Mutifocal lesions in the cerebrum were noted on brain magnetic resonance images and cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed monocytic pleocytosis. Based on these results, granulomatous meningoencephalitis (GME) was strongly suspected. Cerebral lesions were definitely diagnosed as GME based on histopathological findings and positive results of immunohistological stains of brain with T-cell marker (CD3). This report describes the clinical findings, diagnostic imaging characteristics, and immunohistopathologic features of GME in an old dog. In addition, this case demonstrates that clinical signs of GME were mediated by perivascular infiltration of T lymphocytes and identification of causes in T cell-mediated inflammation should be further studied.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Veterinary Clinics Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.233-233
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• 2009

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.151-155
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• 1985

Female BALB/c mice weighing 18~20g were immunized by three injections of $1{\times}10^6$ Naegleria iowleri trophozoites intraperitoneally at the interval of one week 6 times for the pregnant mice and 3 times for the offspring mice. One week after immunization the mice were challenged intranasally with N. fcwleri trophozoites $5{\times}10^4$ under secobarbital anesthesia. Experimental primary amoebic meningoencephalitis developed between day 7 and 16 after infection. All mice were dead due to amoebic meningoencephalitis in all experimental groups except in the offspring born to non-immune mothers. Mean of survival time, which is the duration of survival of mice from infection to death, was delayed in the groups of mice born to immune mothers, immune mice born to immune mothers. Active or passive protective immunity against N. fowleri infection was demonstrated in the ismunized mice and mice born to immune mothers. But the effectiveness of immunization was greatly impaired in terms of mortality in the immune mice born to immune mothers when N. fowulsri was infected intranasally.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.267-285
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• 2017

Angiostrongylus cantonensis invades the central nervous system (CNS) of humans to induce eosinophilic meningitis and meningoencephalitis and leads to persistent headache, cognitive dysfunction, and ataxic gait. Infected mice (nonpermissive host), admittedly, suffer more serious pathological injuries than rats (permissive host). However, the pathological basis of these manifestations is incompletely elucidated. In this study, the behavioral test, histological and immunohistochemical techniques, and analysis of apoptotic gene expression, especially caspase-3, were conducted. The movement and motor coordination were investigated at week 2 post infection (PI) and week 3 PI in mice and rats, respectively. The cognitive impairs could be found in mice at week 2 PI but not in rats. The plaque-like lesion, perivascular cuffing of inflammatory cells, and dilated vessels within the cerebral cortex and hippocampus were more serious in mice than in rats at week 3 PI. Transcriptomic analysis showed activated extrinsic apoptotic pathway through increased expression of TNFR1 and caspase-8 in mice CNS. Immunohistochemical and double-labeling for NeuN and caspase-3 indicated the dramatically increased expression of caspase-3 in neuron of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus in mice but not in rats. Furthermore, western-blotting results showed high expression of cleaved caspase-3 proteins in mice but relatively low expression in rats. Thus, extrinsic apoptotic pathway participated in neuronal apoptosis might be the pathological basis of distinct behavioral dysfunctions in rodents with A. cantonensis infection. It provides the evidences of a primary molecular mechanism for the behavioral dysfunction and paves the ways to clinical diagnosis and therapy for A. cantonensis infection.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.210-214
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• 2009

Group A streptococcus (GAS) rarely causes meningoencephalitis in children without risk factors. A previously healthy 8 year-old child presented with lethargy, high fever, and vomiting. The clinical course was unusual including intractable seizures, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and left hemiparesis in spite of the appropriate and timely administration of antibiotics and corticosteroids. The microbiologic studies revealed that the pathogen was susceptible to penicillin and GAS M18 strains. This case showed the importance of the GAS vaccine in addition to appropriate antibiotics.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.255-260
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• 2020

The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe the characteristics of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in dogs with meningoencephalitis of unknown etiology (MUE), and to evaluate the usefulness of meningeal enhancement. Thirty-two dogs were included in MUE group on the basis of clinical signs, MRI findings and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) results, and for comparison of the meningeal enhancement, twenty-three dogs with normal MRI, normal CSF and no clinical sign were included in the control group. The evaluated MRI findings included lesion site, lesion number, signal intensity of each MRI sequence, mass effect, perilesional edema, contrast enhancement, and meningeal enhancement. The MUE was most frequently associated with multiple lesions (50%) with perilesional edema (72%) in forebrain (66%) that were hyperintense (92%) in T2W and FLAIR images. Of the meningeal enhancement, there was no significant difference between the control group and the MUE groups in the pachymeningeal enhancement. However, leptomeningeal (or both) enhancement was found relatively high proportion in the MUE group than in the control group (P < 0.001, Odd ratio = 10.26), and based on this result, leptomeningeal (or both) enhancement is considered to be significant finding for indicating MUE.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.195-198
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• 1987

In order to test the function of Iymphocytes in Naegleria fowleri-nniected mice, the in nitro blastogenic response of splenocyte cultures to non-specific mitogens was studied. Concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharide stimulation were used as tests of T cell and B cell function. For the first 14 days following N. fowleri infection, Iymphoblastic transformation induced by T-cell mitogen was markedly reduced in comparison to the uninfected control mice. The blastogenic response to B-cell mitogen remained depressed in the infected mice up to 14 days after infection. The fluorescent antibody titers of sera of N. fowleri infected mice were between 1 : 4 and 1 : 32. The results suggest that there is a suppression of cell mediated immunity during the acute course of experimental Naegleria meningoencephalitis in mice.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.93-119
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• 2004

Acanthamoeba and Naegleria are widely distributed in fresh water, soil and dust throughout the world, and cause meningoencephalitis or keratoconjunctivitis in humans and other mammals. Korean isolates, namely, Naegleria sp. YM-1 and Acanthamoeba sp. YM-2, YM-3, YM-4, YM-5, YM-6 and YM-7, were collected from sewage, water puddles, a storage reservoir, the gills of a fresh water fish, and by corneal washing. These isolates were categorized into three groups based on the mortalities of infected mice namely, highly virulent (YM-4), moderately virulent (YM-2, YM-5 and YM-7) and nonpathogenic (YM-3). In addition, a new species of Acanthamoeba was isolated from a freshwater fish in Korea and tentatively named Korean isolate YM-4. The morphologic characters of its cysts were similar to those of A. culbertsoni and A. royreba, which were previously designated as Acanthamoeba group III. Based on experimentally infected mouse mortality, Acanthamoeba YM-4 was highly virulent. The isoenzymes profile of Acanthamoeba YM-4 was similar to that of A. royreba. Moreover, an anti-Acanthamoeba YM-4 monoclonal anti-body reacted only with Acanthamoeba YM-4, and not with A. culbertsoni. Random amplified polymorphic DNA marker analysis and RFLP analysis of mitochondrial DNA and of a 188 small subunit ribosomal RNA, placed Acanthamoeba YM-4 in a separate cluster based on phylogenic distances. Thus Acanthamoeba YM-4 was identified as a new species, and assigned Acanthamoeba sohi. Up to the year 2002 in Korea, two clinical cases were found to be infected with Acanthamoeba spp. These patients died of meningoencephalitis. In addition, one case of Acanthamoeba pneumonia with an immunodeficient status was reported and Acanthamoeba was detected in several cases of chronic relapsing corneal ulcer, chronic conjunctivitis, and keratitis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2023

Balamuthia mandrillaris amebic encephalitis (BAE) can cause a fatal condition if diagnosis is delayed or effective treatment is lacking. Patients with BAE have been previously reported in 12 provinces of China, with skin lesions being the primary symptom and encephalitis developing after several years. However, a significantly lower number of cases has been reported in Southwest China. Here we report an aggressive BAE case of a 64-year-old woman farmer with a history of skin lesions on her left hand. She was admitted to our hospital due to symptoms of dizziness, headache, cough, vomiting, and gait instability. She was initially diagnosed with syphilitic meningoencephalitis and received a variety of empirical treatment that failed to improve her symptoms. Finally, she was diagnosed with BAE combined with amebic pneumonia using next-generation sequencing (NGS), qRT-PCR, sequence analysis, and imaging studies. She died approximately 3 weeks after the onset. This case highlights that the rapid development of encephalitis can be a prominent clinical manifestation of Balamuthia mandrillaris infection.