We describe a 66-year-old woman with therapy-refractory cryoglobulinemia treated with rituximab, plasmapheresis, and steroids; a case of fatal meningoencephalitis caused by Acanthamoeba spp. then developed. Such infections are rare and show an unusually rapid course (possibly related to rituximab).

This study evaluated the presence of Acanthamoeba species in the Puzih River watershed, which features typical subtropical monsoon climate and is located just above the Tropic of Cancer in Taiwan. The relationship between the seasonal and geographical distributions of Acanthamoeba species in this rivershed was also investigated. Acanthamoeba species were detected in water samples using the amoe...

A 41-year-old Mexican male presented with a 5-month history of simple partial seizures that were initially treated with valproic acid. Upon admission to a hospital in Monterrey, Mexico, he experienced progressive deterioration in consciousness, intense headache, vomiting, and recurrent seizure episodes. His past medical history was unremarkable. A magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed a fron...

Infections caused by Naegleria fowleri, Acanthamoeba spp., and Balamuthia mandrillaris occur throughout the world and pose many diagnostic challenges. To date, at least 440 cases of severe central nervous system infections caused by these amebas have been documented worldwide. Rapid and specific identification of these free-living amebas in clinical samples is of crucial importance for efficien...

The protist genus Balamuthia was first described as the causative agent of a fatal case of encephalitis in a mandrill [8]. Originally classified as a leptomyxid ameba, it was eventually given genus status as Balamuthia mandrillaris [8,9]. Since the original isolation, numerous isolates have been found in granulomatous amebic encephalitis (GAE) cases in a number of vertebrates, including humans,...

introduction: acanthamoeba is an opportunistic protist, which is ubiquitously distributed in the environment. infection with acanthamoeba spp. poses threat to human health, such as, acanthamoeba keratitis (ak) that is a vision-threatening infection of the cornea. this study aimed to identify the species of acanthamoeba strains isolated from cornea of keratitis patients by polymerase chain react...

Acanthamoeba keratitis is a vision-threatening infection caused by pathogenic species of the genus Acanthamoeba. Although not all Acanthamoeba spp. can cause keratitis, it is important to differentiate pathogenic species and isolates from nonpathogens. Since extracellular proteases may play a role in ocular pathology, we used colorimetric, cytopathic, and zymographic assays to assess extracellu...