Eight-Year-Old Male With Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis

Chairut Vareechon; Thomas Tarro; Claudia Polanco; Vikram Anand; Pia S Pannaraj; Jennifer Dien Bard

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofz349

Eight-Year-Old Male With Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2019 Jul 29;6(8):ofz349. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofz349. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Authors

Chairut Vareechon¹, Thomas Tarro^{2

3}, Claudia Polanco¹, Vikram Anand^{2

3}, Pia S Pannaraj^{2

3}, Jennifer Dien Bard^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, California.
² Department of Infectious Disease, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, California.
³ Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Abstract

Naegleria fowleri is a thermophilic free-living amoeba that is found in warm, fresh water and causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). The following report demonstrates the rapid and destructive clinical features of PAM in an 8-year-old male who presented with severe headaches approximately 12 days after swimming in a hot spring.

Keywords: Naegleria fowleri; PAM; primary amebic meningoencephalitis.