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Article: Balamuthia amebic encephalitis risk, Hispanic Americans.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
- Article from:
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Article date:
- August 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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To the Editor: Balamuthia mandrillaris, a free-living soil ameba, can cause granulomatous amebic encephalitis as well as nasopharyngeal, cutaneous, and disseminated infections in humans, nonhuman primates, and other animals. Approximately 100 published and unpublished cases of Balamuthia amebic encephalitis (BAE) have been reported; most were fatal. Diagnosis of BAE is usually made at autopsy, and rarely by biopsy, in part because the amebas can be overlooked in histopathologic preparations. In recognizing BAE as a type of encephalitis that might otherwise be undiagnosed, the California Encephalitis Project (1) has been screening selected serum samples from patients with ...