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Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis caused byAcanthamoeba in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

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Abstract

A 25-year-old chronically immunosuppressed woman with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) died after developing subacute granulomatous encephalitis caused byAcanthamoeba. Amoebic trophozoites were also found in the lung, suggesting a primary pulmonary focus of infection. The infectious encephalitis was difficult to differentiate from a flare-up of central nervous system lupus. This case illustrates thatAcanthamoeba can cause fatal encephalitis in lupus patients, as well as in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome as previously reported. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis due toAcanthamoeba in a patient with SLE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Department of Internal Medicine, Saitama Medical Centre, Saitama Medical School, Saitama, 1981, Kamoda, Kawagoe, Saitama 350, Japan

    J. Koide MD, T. Ito, S. Mori, T. Takeuchi & T. Abe

  2. Department of Pathology, Saitama Medical Centre, Saitama Medical School, Saitama 350, Japan

    S. Itoyama

  3. Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan

    E. Okusawa

Authors
  1. J. Koide MD
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  2. E. Okusawa
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  3. T. Ito
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  4. S. Mori
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  5. T. Takeuchi
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  6. S. Itoyama
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  7. T. Abe
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Koide, J., Okusawa, E., Ito, T. et al. Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis caused byAcanthamoeba in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Rheumatol 17, 329–332 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01451015

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01451015

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