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Case Reports
. 2007 May;13(5):736-8.
doi: 10.3201/eid1305.061347.

Fatal disseminated Acanthamoeba lenticulata infection in a heart transplant patient

Stéphane Barete  1 , Alain Combes, Johan F de Jonckheere, Annick Datry, Shaïda Varnous, Valérie Martinez, Sara García Ptacek, Eric Caumes, Frédérique Capron, Camille Francès, Claude Gibert, Olivier Chosidow
Affiliations
Case Reports

Fatal disseminated Acanthamoeba lenticulata infection in a heart transplant patient

Stéphane Barete et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2007 May.

Abstract

We report a fatal case of disseminated acanthamebiasis caused by Acanthamoeba lenticulata (genotype T5) in a 39-year-old heart transplant recipient. The diagnosis was based on skin histopathologic results and confirmed by isolation of the ameba from involved skin and molecular analysis of a partial 18S rRNA gene sequence (DF3).

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Figures

Figure
Figure
A) Ulcerated, violaceous plaque on the trunk of the patient with undermined infiltrated peripheral walls. B) Section of the lesion in A showing diffuse dermal-hypodermal necrosis with neutrophil infiltration (thin arrow) and sparse histiocytelike cells (thick arrow) (hematoxylin and eosin–stained, magnification ×10). C) Surgical skin biopsy specimen showing amebic cysts (arrows) in the dermal-hypodermal junction (hematoxylin and eosin–stained, magnification ×20). D) Surgical skin biopsy specimen showing intravascular amebic trophozoite (arrow) characterized by acanthopodia, cytoplasmic vacuoles, and a prominent nucleolus (hematoxylin and eosin–stained, magnification ×40).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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