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Another 'Brain Eating' Amoeba: Acanthamoeba

EnolaGaia

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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The genus Acanthamoeba is capable of infesting brain and neural tissue in people who are immuno-compromised. The resultant infection causes granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE), which is typically fatal.

In this latest reported US case the amoeba essentially 'liquified' brain tissue, turning it into mush.
Amoeba found in soil kills gardener, turns his brain into mushy liquid

An elderly gardener died from a brain-eating amoeba found in soil after it turned part of his frontal lobe into a mushy liquid, according to researchers in Georgia.

The 82-year-old man is believed to have contracted the shape-shifting organism while potting plants at an unnamed location, and was later struck by seizures, according to a case study, which was published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The man was first treated for bacterial, fungal and viral meningitis before becoming drowsy and suffering seizures, researchers from Emory University in Atlanta said in the report. He died nine days after being admitted to a hospital.

An autopsy revealed an amoeba had turned parts of the man’s dark matter into a mushy, “watery debris” known as “liquefactive necrosis.”

His cause of death was ultimately a rare infection of the brain and spinal cord generally caused by the species acanthamoeba, according to the report.

The patient had previously suffered from blood cancer, but had been in remission for more than a decade.

Acanthamoeba infection in the eyes can result in permanent damage to vision and blindness, according to the CDC. But most people with normal immune systems will be exposed to it at some point in their lives without getting sick.
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SOURCE: https://nypost.com/2020/09/23/amoeba-found-in-soil-kills-gardener-turns-his-brain-into-liquid/
 
Access to the New England Journal of Medicine report on this case is restricted. Here's the basic / publicly viewable info ...

An 82-year-old man presented with generalized weakness. He had rapidly progressive neurologic symptoms and died 9 days later. Autopsy showed liquefactive necrosis of the brain, and a diagnosis of granulomatous amebic encephalitis was made.
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September 24, 2020
N Engl J Med 2020; 383:1262
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMicm2002401

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2002401
 
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