Doctors are starting to find new light on a rare brain infection caused by an attack by a brain-eating amoeba. Photo/iccsafe
In the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases published in January 2023, a recent case was reported of a 54-year-old man whose brain was infiltrated by the amoeba Balamuthia mandrillaris. The amoeba then infiltrates the bloodstream and travels to the brain, triggering a very rare infection called “granulomatous amoebic encephalitis” which kills about 90% of people who get it.
The man initially received treatment at a Northern California hospital for unexplained seizures. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a mass on the left side of his brain, surrounded by swelling.
Also read; Getting to Know the Brain-Eating Amoeba and Its Dangers to Humans
At this point, the man was transferred to the University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF), where doctors took samples of the patient’s brain tissue and the clear fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. This analysis revealed that there was a brain-eating amoeba (Balamuthia mandrillaris) in the man’s brain.
After consulting the CDC, the patient’s physician prescribed an aggressive regimen of antiparasitic, antibacterial, and antifungal medications. “That’s what was recommended because it happened to be used in patients who survived,” Dr. Natasha Spottiswoode, an infectious disease doctor-scientist at UCSF told Science magazine quoted SINDOnews from the Live Science page, Tuesday (7/2/2023).
Unfortunately, the treatment led to severe side effects, including kidney failure, and the patient is not yet amoeba-free. Looking for other solutions, Spottiswoode dug into a 2018 report, published in the journal mBio, in which UCSF scientists found evidence that the antibiotic nitroxoline can kill brain-eating amoebae in a laboratory setting.
The drug is approved in Europe, but not in the US, so the medical team sought permission from the Food and Drug Administration to use it. After obtaining approval, the doctor started giving the patient nitroxoline and observed rapid improvement, within a week.
Also read; Wow, Cases of Naegleria fowleri Brain-Eating Amoeba Found in These 3 Countries
The patient was immediately discharged from the hospital and he continued to take nitroxoline at home, along with other medications. Meanwhile, UCSF doctors overseeing the case of a second patient infected with a brain-eating amoeba (Balamuthia mandrillaris) who started receiving nitroxoline saw similar healing effects.
(wib)
