Laura Carretero Santos, Inés Catoya Villa, Carmen Centelles Guarc and Cristina Chivato Martín – Falquina.
October 16th 2018.
A 10-year-old girl from Toledo has survived the first Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM) in Spain. The amoeba that produces it, it is called Naegleria fowleri, the “brain-eating amoeba”.
This central nervous system infection is deadly in 97-98% of cases and only 12 people in the world have survived it. Less than 400 cases have been known worldwide within the last 5 decades. When this free-living protozoon grows in warm waters it can cause lethal infections by reaching the olfactory nerves after coming in through the nostrils. It affects kids and young adults and secretes enzymes that destroy the brain cells causing lethargy and head ache and finally convulsions, paralysis and death.
In this case, the infected kid was admitted to the public Hospital Virgen de la Salud of Toledo with meningitis symptoms. She suffered from intense head ache, high temperature and neck stiffness. First analysis discarded a viral or bacterial origin.
Then, thanks to the CNM and the Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública from Canarias, the amoeba was identified, and the pediatricians could administer intravenously and intrathecally the first line treatment according to the literature, Amphotericin B (antibiotic and antifungal), that has several side effects.
It has been demonstrated that she had been infected in the public swimming pool she attended, quite alarming considering that this swimming pool followed strictly all the legal safety regulations that guarantee the hygiene of public swimming pools.
Keywords: #parasitology #amoeba
Güell, O. (2018). Una niña de Toledo sobrevive al primer caso en España de la ameba comecerebros. EL PAÍS: enfermedades raras. https://elpais.com/sociedad/2018/10/11/actualidad/1539260004_045137.htmlLast visit: November 4th, 2018.
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