[Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis: a case report].
BACKGROUND
Infections of the central nervous system by free-living amoeba are a rare phenomenon around the world. They present as a necrotising haemorrhagic acute meningoencephalitis, with a fatality rate close to 100% or as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis with a chronic progression.


METHODS
We describe a fatal case of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis produced by Naegleria fowleri in an 8-year-old child, with a history of immersion in a freshwater reservoir 52 hours before death.


CONCLUSIONS
Laboratory studies carried out before death did not enable a diagnosis to be reached while the patient was alive. Diagnosis was made in the course of the post-mortem examination, where the presence of amoeba trophozoites was identified.
Departamento de Anatomía Patológica, Hospital Pediatrico Docente William Soler, La Habana, Cuba.
O
O
Cubero-Menéndez
D
D
Cubero-Rego
D000562:Amebiasis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008590:Meningoencephalitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D016848:Naegleria fowleri / Q000378:metabolism