A Balamuthia survivor

A Balamuthia survivor

INTRODUCTION This case report describes a human survivor of Balamuthia mandrillaris infection. This is a free-living amoeba that can cause infection with the devastating consequence of near universally fatal encephalitis. We report this case to demonstrate the possibility of recovery. CASE PRESENTATION A 26-year-old Hispanic male, a landscape gardener, presented to the hospital in March 2010 ...

Balamuthia Amebic Encephalitis

test; bioMérieux). DNA was extracted from cultures grown on agar plates and amplified following a previously described protocol (1). The following oligonucleotide primer sequences were used: luk-PV1, 5′-ATCATTAGGTAAAATGTCTGGACATGATCCA-3′; luk-PV2, 5′-GCATCAAGTGTAT T G G ATA G C A A A A G C 3 ′ . Polymerase chain reaction products were sequenced commercially and submitted to GenBank (accession n...

Etymologia: Balamuthia mandrillaris

A case of Balamuthia mandrillaris meningoencephalitis.

Balamuthia mandrillaris is a newly described pathogen that causes granulomatous amebic encephalitis, an extremely rare clinical entity that usually occurs in immunosuppressed individuals. We report a case of pathologically proven Balamuthia encephalitis with unusual laboratory and radiologic findings. A 52-year-old woman with idiopathic seizures and a 2-year history of chronic neutropenia of un...

Disseminated Balamuthia mandrillaris Infection.

Balamuthia mandrillaris is a rare cause of human infection, but when infections do occur, they result in high rates of morbidity and mortality. A case of disseminated Balamuthia infection is presented. Early diagnosis and initiation of recommended therapy are essential for increased chances of successful outcomes.