Survey of Sera from Encephalitis Patients for <i>Balamuthia mandrillaris</i> Antibody

Schuster, Frederick L.; Glaser, Carol; Gilliam, Sabrina; Visvesvara, Govinda S.

doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2001.tb00435.x

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The suggested thresholds are preliminary and will be adapted with further data. These findings and their interpretation correspond roughly to those of Schuster et al investigating a group of Californian atypical encephalitis patients (7% elevated, 1% high; Schuster et al 2001). Notably, their donor of the highly positive serum plus two more from outside this study group later developed BAE and revealed B. mandrillaris amoeba in their brain tissue.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…The occurrence of subclinical or inapparent infections is suggested in the few reports on elevated B. mandrillarisbinding serum Ab levels found in healthy volunteers or patients with BAE-related diseases (Huang et al 1999;Schuster et al 2001Schuster et al , 2003Schuster et al , 2008, but the issue remains controversial. In view of the high pathogenicity of B. mandrillaris, it is important to learn more about the prevalence of Balamuthia infections, thereby also addressing the question whether human and other mammalian populations experience self-healing infections.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessment of Balamuthia mandrillaris-specific serum antibody concentrations by flow cytometry

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A flow cytometry (fluorescence-activated cell sorter)-based assay was adapted to detect and quantify antibodies to Balamuthia mandrillaris, a causative agent of fatal amoebic encephalitis (BAE), and to Acanthamoeba species. With sera from BAE patients for positive and a group of inconspicuous volunteers for negative reference, most of the 237 sera from random blood donors, patients with atypical encephalitis, atypical pneumonitis, visceral amoebiasis and toxoplasmosis and from subjects working with primates and other mammals were rated negative, 19% elevated and of these 2% high. In comparison, 23 of 25 West Africans living in rural areas revealed elevated, of these 15 high, and one very high B. mandrillaris-binding antibody titers, the latter well in the range of BAE patients. To date, none of the tested individuals have developed symptoms indicative of BAE. Criss-cross analysis with rabbit hyper immune sera against B. mandrillaris, Acanthamoeba comandoni (group 1), Acanthamoeba castellanii (group 2) and Acanthamoeba lenticulata (group 3) confirmed that cross-reactivity between B. mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba sp. is negligible while accentuating antigenic differences between the three morphological groups of Acanthamoeba.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Assessment of Balamuthia mandrillaris-specific serum antibody concentrations by flow cytometry

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The genus Acanthamoeba contains pathogenic strains especially within the T4 subgroup but not all T4s are pathogenic despite the similarity of the SSU rDNA gene. It is a formal possibility that like Acanthamoeba, not all Balamuthia are pathogenic; this would explain why most individuals have a measureable titre of anti-Balamuthia antibodies (Schuster et al 2002) without infection despite the apparent high infective potential of this organism even in immunocompetent individuals. The existence of non-pathogenic Balamuthia in the environment may have ramification especially if abundant, as contact with non-pathogenic strains may afford an element of immunity to pathogenic strains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Isolation of Balamuthia mandrillaris from urban dust, free of known infectious involvement

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The free-living amoeba Balamuthia mandrillaris can cause fatal encephalitis in humans and other mammals. The organism is associated with soils, and soil exposure has been identified as a risk factor for this pathogen. However, B. mandrillaris has been isolated only once from soils believed to be the source of the infection in child from California, USA who died of Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis and once from another unrelated soil source. We report for a third time the isolation of B. mandrillaris from the environment and for the second time its isolation from a sample not known to be involved with pathogenicity. We have established the new clonal B. mandrillaris strain (ID-19) in axenic media. The identity of our isolate was originally by morphology using a light microscope and this has been confirmed by 16S rRNA gene PCR. The new strain ID-19 groups with others of the species. The fact that our isolate came from dust particles deposited on surfaces from the air in an urban environment may suggest that it is not just soil exposure that constitutes a risk factor for Balamuthia infection. This is the first report of this organism from Iran.

show abstract

“…Thus, it is not surprising that humans are exposed to them, as indicated by the presence of antiamoeba antibodies in serum. Antibody titers have been demonstrated for Naegleria [2][3][4], Acanthamoeba [2,5], and Balamuthia [6,7] species in surveys of healthy humans. Similarly, amoeba antibodies have been demonstrated in domestic [8] and wild animals [9,10].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Antibodies against Free-Living Amoebae Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba Species in a Population of Patients with Encephalitis

Schuster

Honarmand

Visvesvara

et al. 2006

Clinical Infectious Diseases

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background. Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba species are 2 free-living amoebae responsible for granulomatous amoebic encephalitis in humans and animals. We have screened serum samples from hospitalized patients with encephalitis for antibodies against these 2 amoebae as a means of detecting a disease with few defining symptoms and a poor prognosis.Methods. Indirect immunofluorescence antibody (IFA) staining of serum samples from patients with encephalitis was conducted over a period of 6 years to detect amoeba antibodies. More than 250 serum samples from patients hospitalized with encephalitis were screened. Most of the samples were from patients in California and were screened as part of the California Encephalitis Project, with a small number of specimens from other states.Results. During the course of the study, 7 cases of Balamuthia encephalitis were detected; all cases were detected in Hispanic individuals, and all cases were fatal. Examination of hematoxylin-eosin-stained and immunostained sections of brain tissue obtained at biopsy or autopsy for amoebae confirmed balamuthiasis in all serum samples with positive IFA results. One case of Acanthamoeba encephalitis was detected in an immunocompromised individual with a normal antibody titer by identification of amoebae in immunostained brain tissue obtained at autopsy.Conclusions. IFA can be successfully used in screening for balamuthiasis and acanthamoebiasis in patients whose clinical presentation, laboratory results, and neuroimaging findings are suggestive of amoebic encephalitis. Ideally, this can lead to an earlier definitive diagnosis and earlier start of antimicrobial therapy. Without IFA staining, the balamuthiasis cases in our study would have been diagnosed as neurocysticercosis, tumor, tuberculosis, or viral encephalitis or would have been undiagnosed.

show abstract

Survey of Sera from Encephalitis Patients for Balamuthia mandrillaris Antibody

Cited by 22 publications

References 9 publications

Assessment of Balamuthia mandrillaris-specific serum antibody concentrations by flow cytometry

Assessment of Balamuthia mandrillaris-specific serum antibody concentrations by flow cytometry

Isolation of Balamuthia mandrillaris from urban dust, free of known infectious involvement

Detection of Antibodies against Free-Living Amoebae Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba Species in a Population of Patients with Encephalitis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About