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Fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris
Author(s) -
Reed Robert P,
CookeYarborough Claire M,
Jaquiery Anne L,
Kemp Andrew S,
Su John C,
Grimwood Keith,
Forsyth Jocelyn R L
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1997.tb138785.x
Subject(s) - histopathology , pathology , differential diagnosis , medicine , encephalitis , lesion , brain biopsy , biopsy , virology , virus
Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris is rare (63 human cases reported worldwide) and fatal. We report a case in a five‐year‐old boy who had previously been well. For 18 months, he had had a slowly progressive, granulomatous mid facial lesion, but despite extensive investigation definitive diagnosis was made only with the acute onset of neurological signs in the last two weeks of life, when a brain biopsy specimen revealed amoebic trophozoites and cysts. Infection with B. mandrillaris should be considered in the differential diagnosis of chronic skin lesions with non‐specific granulomatous histopathology and negative microbiological test results.