Amebic meningoencephalitis

Unexpected postmortem diagnosis of acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis in an immunocompetent child

Meningoencephalitis caused by Acanthamoeba spp. is a rare opportunistic infection, difficult to diagnose and treat, which causes death in almost all cases. Here, the authors report a 5-year-old Iranian immunocompetent girl who died of fulminant acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis in Iran.

Unexpected postmortem diagnosis of Acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis following allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Meningoencephalitis caused by pathogenic free-living amebas is usually fatal. Only a few cases of Acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis, diagnosed at autopsy, have been reported following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We here report a case of Acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis following allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation with rapidly evolving neurologic symptoms that remained unexplained. Magnetic resonance imaging failed to show brain lesions and cerebrospinal fluid was negative for microbiological cultures. Definite diagnosis was an unexpected autopsy finding. As overall and teaching hospital autopsy rates are declining worldwide, we must emphasize the need of autopsy exams if we want to improve our knowledge as the best way to care for our patients.