We report an 8 month-old infant with primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAME) due to Naegleria fowleri. The child was treated with amphotericin B, chloramphenicol and rifampicin for 3 weeks. PAME is an almost universally fatal condition with very few survivors till date. Our patient was one of the rare survivors who recovered after treatment and was discharged without any residual neurological...

These are Acanthamoeba spp., Balamuthia mandrillaris (the only known species of Balamuthia), Naegleria fowleri (sometimes considered not to be an amoeba at all, but more closely related to Leishmania and Trypanosoma) and Sappinia pedata. They are distinct from the more famous Entamoeba histolytica (an obligate anaerobic parasite which can cause amoebiasis, amoebic dysentery and amoebic liver ab...

Primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) is a fatal infection caused by the free-living ameba Naegleria fowleri, popularly known as the "brain-eating ameba." The drugs of choice in treating PAM are the antifungal amphotericin B and an antileishmanial miltefosine, but these are not FDA-approved for this indication and use of amphotericin B is associated with severe adverse effects. Moreover, ver...

Four species of Naegleria were tested for their ability to migrate under agarose. Pathogenic N. fowleri strains exhibited rapid locomotion at 37 degrees C. Environmental isolates of N. fowleri moved faster than clinical isolates which had been kept in axenic culture for longer periods, and this result was confirmed by using the 84-2205-7 strain kept in axenic culture for 1 or 5 months. Nonpatho...