Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis: a report of two cases and antibiotic and immunologic studies.

Abstract

In the summer of 1978, two children who had recently been swimming in freshwater lakes in Florida died from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Despite early and intensive treatment with amphotericin B, both patients died three to five days after the onset of illness. Amoebae were observed in wet preparations of cerebrospinal fluid and in sections of cerebral tissue and were identified as Naegleria fowleri by the indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique. The amoebae were highly virulent in mice. The isolate of N. fowleri was extremely sensitive in vitro to amphotericin B (minimal inhibitory concentration [MIC], 0.15 microgram/ml), somewhat sensitive to miconazole (MIC, 25 micrograms/ml), and resistant to rifampin (MIC, less than or equal to 100 micrograms/ml). Treatment with amphotericin B (7.5 mg/kg of body weight per day) administered intraperitoneally protected 60% of the mice. Lower doses of amphotericin B alone or in combination with miconazole (100 mg/kg) or rifampin (220 mg/kg) were not protective. These results suggest that amphotericin B remains the single effective agent in treatment of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.

• Authors: A R Stevens, S T Shulman, T A Lansen, M J Cichon, E Willaert
• Journal: The Journal of infectious diseases (J Infect Dis) Vol. 143 Issue 2 Pg. 193-9 (Feb 1981) ISSN: 0022-1899 [Print] United States
• PMID: 7217717 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Miconazole
• Amphotericin B
• Rifampin

Topics

• Adolescent
• Amebiasis (diagnosis, drug therapy)
• Amphotericin B (therapeutic use)
• Animals
• Child
• Humans
• Male
• Meningoencephalitis (diagnosis, drug therapy, etiology)
• Mice
• Miconazole (therapeutic use)
• Rifampin (therapeutic use)
• Serologic Tests
• Swimming