UNFAMILIARITY OF PRIMARY AMOEBIC MENINGOENCEPHALITIS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
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Reginald Eke 1 * , Lawrence N. Chigbu 2, E. Enwereji 3
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1 Abia State University, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Department of Primary Health Care, Aba, Nigeria2 Abia State University, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Department of Microbiology and Immuniology, Aba, Nigeria3 Abia State University, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Department of Community Medicine, Aba, Nigeria* Corresponding Author

Abstract

We report a case of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in Nigeria in a 7-year old boy from a rural area. The clinical course was classically that of meningoencephalitis and laboratory diagnosis was from the cerebrospinal fluid and pond water specimen which showed free-living structures of amoeba of Naegleria species. Methods available could not differentiate the Naegleria species. Investigation revealed that the boy played and swam in a village pond for many years before his death and the pond was infested with free living amoebae. Despite the world-wide nature of the disease, the reporting of the cases had been very rare. The apparent rarity of the reporting world-wide and in particular in developing countries result in ignorance of people of the disease.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

EUR J GEN MED, 2006, Volume 3, Issue 4, 190-192

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/82408

Publication date: 15 Oct 2006

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