The genus Naegleria comprises of free living ameboflagellates found in soil and fresh water. More than 30 species have been isolated but only N. fowleri has been associated with human disease. N. fowleri causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), an acute, often fulminant infection of CNS. Here we report a rare and first case of PAM in an immunocompetent elderly patient from this part of...

Amoebae of Naegleria gruberi were cytopathic for cultures of rat neuroblastoma (B-103) cells. N. gruberi grew and destroyed B-103 cells at 30 degrees C. As few as one amoeba inoculated per million B-103 cells resulted in cytopathogenicity after extensive growth of N. gruberi.

Neuroblastoma cells were inoculated with Naegleria fowleri Lee and examined for cytopathology at various periods post-inoculation by scanning electron microscopy. By 18 h post-inoculation, approximately 50% of neuroblastoma cells were nonviable, as evidenced by trypan blue exclusion and light microscopic examination. This cytopathology resulted from piecemeal consumption of target cells mediate...

A fatal case of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in a 5-month-old infant is described. The disease may have been contracted during bathing. The source of water was from an artificial well. The clinical presentation, the isolation of the ameba from the cerebrospinal fluid, the poor response to amphotericin B, and the ultimate fatal outcome are all consistent with the diagnosis of PAM. On...

Free-living amebae (FLA) are known to occur worldwide in water-related biotopes, but only limited information is available on these organisms in developing countries and so far no information on their presence is available from Nicaragua. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of potentially pathogenic Acanthamoeba spp. and Naegleria spp. in different water sources to which the ...

Comparing the genome sequences of free-living organisms in the five eukaryotic supergroups enables predictions to be made about the genome of the last common ancestor of eukaryotes. The genome sequence of the amoeboflagellate Naegleria gruberi reported by Fritz-Laylin et al. (2010) reveals the surprising complexity of this unicellular organism and, by inference, of the last common eukaryotic an...

Results comparing the time needed for the development of cytopathic effects in cell cultures with that needed to cause death in mice using inocula of Naegleria and Acanthamoeba are presented. The significance of the source and concentration of the inocula is demonstrated. The use of cell cultures as an indicator of the pathogenicity of free-living amoebae is discussed.

Naegleria fowleri, a free-living amoeba, exists as a virulent pathogen which causes fatal primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in experimental animals and humans. Using infected and immune mouse sera, we previously cloned an nfa1 gene from a cDNA library of N. fowleri by immunoscreening. The nfa1 gene (360 bp) produced a recombinant 13.1-kDa protein, and the Nfa1 protein showed pseudopodium-spec...

Carphology 70 Carphology by A Fo Ben Cover image Brain infl ammation (meningoencephalitis). Coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of several Naegleria fowleri protozoan microbes (yellow) in the brain. A blood vessel is seen running from bottom right to centre left with red blood cells (red) and white blood cells (pale blue). N. fowleri caused the meningoencephalitis, which is the infl...