The first case was 7-month-old immunodeficiency girl in whom the diagnosis of Acanthamoeba pneumonia was established by culture of a bronchial washing. The patient had been ill for a month when she was admitted due to neonatal thrombocytopenia with respiratory difficulty and treated with gammaglobulin and steroid. Her chest X-ray showed diffuse alveolar consolidation on the left lung with interstitial hazziness and a partial sign of hyperinflation on the right lung. Laboratory tests showed that the Candida antigen was negative and Pneumocystis carinii was not detected. Mycoplasma antigen was negative. All the immunoglobulin levels (IgG, IgA, IgM) were below the normal range. Five days later the patient expired. The second case was an immunosuppressed 7-year-old boy in whom Acanthamoeba trophozoites were found in the skin biopsy, followed by meningitis leading to death. About five days after a laceration on the region of the left eyebrow, a painful bean-sized nodule developed at the suture site and it was treated with antibiotics and corticosteroid. The skin biopsy showed severe inflammatory cell infiltration. Trophozoites were scattered near the blood vessels throughout the inflammatory zone. From one weak prior to admission, the patient had suffered from vomiting, indigestion and mild fever. Skin nodules with tenderness appeared all over his body surface. Examination of cerebrospinal fluid showed clear, Gram stain was negative, bacterial culture negative, India ink preparation negative, and organism on wet smear negaive. On admission day 10, focal seizure of the left extremity occurred. Brain CT revealed calcific density on the left parietal lobe area and hypodensity on the left basal ganglia. He became comatous and died immediately after discharge. Until now in Korea, two cases that are described in this paper, one Acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis case and seven Acanthamoeba keratitis cases including two unreported keratitis cases that are reported in this paper have been presented.
Acanthamoeba*/isolation & purification ; Amebiasis*/parasitology ; Animal ; Case Report ; Child ; Female ; Human ; Immunocompromised Host ; Infant ; Korea ; Male ; Meningitis/parasitology* ; Pneumonia/parasitology*

Recently reports on toxocariasis are increasing by serodiagnosis in Korea. A previously healthy 17-yr-old boy complained of headache, fever, dyspnea, and anorexia. He showed symptoms and signs of eosinophilic meningitis with involvement of the lungs and liver. Specific IgG antibody to Toxocara canis larval antigen was positive in serum and cerebrospinal fluid by ELISA. He took raw ostrich liver with his parents 4 weeks before the symptom onset. His parents were seropositive for T. canis antigen but had no symptoms or signs suggesting toxocariasis. This is the first report of toxocariasis in a family due to ingestion of raw ostrich liver in Korea.
Adolescent ; Animals ; Antibodies, Helminth/blood/cerebrospinal fluid ; Eating ; Humans ; Larva/immunology ; Liver/parasitology ; Male ; Meningitis/*diagnosis/parasitology ; Struthioniformes ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Toxocara canis/growth & development/*immunology/isolation & purification ; Toxocariasis/*diagnosis/parasitology/transmission

Animals ; Antibodies, Helminth ; blood ; cerebrospinal fluid ; Child, Preschool ; Eosinophilia ; cerebrospinal fluid ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Meningitis ; cerebrospinal fluid ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Neurocysticercosis ; complications ; drug therapy ; parasitology ; Taenia ; immunology

Eosinophilic meningitis, caused by the nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis, is prevalent in northeastern Thailand, most commonly in adults. Data regarding clinical manifestations of this condition in children is limited and may be different those in adults. A chart review was done on 19 eosinophilic meningitis patients aged less than 15 years in Srinagarind Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. Clinical manifestations and outcomes were reported using descriptive statistics. All patients had presented with severe headache. Most patients were males, had fever, nausea or vomiting, stiffness of the neck, and a history of snail ingestion. Six patients had papilledema or cranial nerve palsies. It was shown that the clinical manifestations of eosinophilic meningitis due to A. cantonensis in children are different from those in adult patients. Fever, nausea, vomiting, hepatomegaly, neck stiffness, and cranial nerve palsies were all more common in children than in adults.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Angiostrongylus cantonensis/*isolation & purification ; Animals ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Eosinophilia/complications/etiology/*pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Meningitis/complications/etiology/*pathology ; Middle Aged ; Patient Outcome Assessment ; Strongylida Infections/parasitology/*pathology ; Thailand ; Young Adult

Strongyloides stercoralis is a soil transmitted intestinal nematode that is endemic in the tropical and subtropical regions. In most individuals who are infected, chronic, usually asymptomatic, gastrointestinal infection persists. But, in immunocompromized hosts or in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy, autoinfection of S. stercoralis may result in the dissemination of larvae, leading to fatal hyperinfection and increased rate of complications. We report a case of hyperinfective strongyloidiasis with bacterial meningitis in a patient receiving steroid therapy. Strongyloidiasis was diagnosed by the presence of filariform larvae of S. stercoralis in the bronchoalveolar lavage cytology and upper gastrointestinal endoscopic biopsy specimen. Her clinical symptoms had progressively aggravated and developed bacterial meningitis during treatment. She died despite aggressive antibiotic and antihelminthic therapy.
Adrenal Insufficiency/drug therapy ; Aged ; Animals ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid/parasitology ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Enterococcus faecium/isolation & purification ; Female ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Intestinal Mucosa/pathology ; Larva/physiology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Meningitis, Bacterial/complications/*diagnosis/microbiology ; Steroids/adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Strongyloides stercoralis/growth & development/isolation & purification ; Strongyloidiasis/complications/*diagnosis/parasitology