Treatment and Prevention: Balamuthia mandrillaris

Treatment protocol is similar to that for Acanthamoeba species. As with other free-living amoeba, it is recommended that multiple drugs should be used for a prolonged duration.

Presently, there are no clearly defined methods available for the prevention of infections with B. mandrillaris.

Case 1: A 20-year-old woman, her fiancé, and her family made a trip to a popular vacation lake located near the Colorado River in May 2013. In July she and her fiancé were married. Several months following the trip to the lake, the 20-year-old woman began to experience headaches, stiff neck, nausea, and vomiting. Slowly her symptoms progressed and became more severe over the course of the year. At first her physicians thought that she was suffering from migraines, but after a brain biopsy, she was diagnosed with B. mandrillaris. Within weeks after being admitted to the hospital, the woman died in October 2014 (over a year after her trip to the lake).

Case 2: A six-year-old boy lived in Georgia just south of Atlanta. To date, not much is known about the case except that the child had a very out-going personality, he loved to play in the dirt, and he was a premature birth. At first it was thought he suffered from meningitis. The young boy died in September 2015 of an infection of B. mandrillaris, one month after his symptoms first appeared.