CAP16 Abstract Highlights - Naegleria fowleri: Understanding the Clinical Presentation and Autopsy Findings of a Rare and Almost Universally Fatal Central Nervous System Infection

The 2016 annual meeting of the College of American Pathlologists (CAP16) is coming up September 25-28 in Las Vegas. In this series of posts, I ' ll be featuring poster abstracts of particular interest to neuropathologists.Alexander T. Damron and colleagues atBaylor College of Medicine in Houston discussNaegleria fowleriCNS infection in Poster #114:Naegleria fowleri is a free-living ameba known to cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Moreover, PAM is an acute, fulminating, and hemorrhagic infection that occurs in healthy young children with fresh water exposure in warm climates. It is postulated thatNaegleria fowlerienters through the nasal passages and crosses the cribriform plate, where it reaches the subarachnoid space and disseminates into the olfactory lobes. Visvesvaraet al(2007) performed a retrospective study of all reportedN fowleri infections in the United States from 1937 to 2013 and found 3 survivors in 142 reported cases. Only 27% of the 142 cases were diagnosed before patient death. We present a case of a previously healthy 14-year-old boy who presented with fever, headache, vomiting, and altered mental status 8 days after swimming in a warm freshwater lake. Cerebrospinal fluid studies showed organisms consistent with amoeba (Figure 265, C). Despite neuroprotective measures and antimicrobial medications, the patient was pronounced brain dead 9 days after admission. Autopsy revea...
Source: neuropathology blog - Category: Radiology Tags: CAP16 abstracts infectious disease Source Type: blogs