Metagenomics-driven rapid diagnosis of an imported fatal case of rare amoebic meningoencephalitis

Qingtian Guan; Bushra Alhuthali; Sara Mfarrej; Magid Abdel Halim; Reem S Almaghrabi; Arnab Pain

doi:10.1093/jtm/taab172

Metagenomics-driven rapid diagnosis of an imported fatal case of rare amoebic meningoencephalitis

J Travel Med. 2022 Jul 14;29(4):taab172. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taab172.

Authors

Qingtian Guan¹, Bushra Alhuthali², Sara Mfarrej¹, Magid Abdel Halim², Reem S Almaghrabi², Arnab Pain^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah 23955, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh 11211, Saudi Arabia.
³ Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE), Division of Collaboration and Education, Research Center for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 001-0020, Japan.

Abstract

We identified Naegleria fowleri as the aetiologic agent from cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with a travel history to Karachi. We demonstrate the benefit of metagenomics-based rapid diagnosis of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis when routine clinical tests fail to provide a definitive diagnosis. We reconstructed the N. fowleri genome.

Keywords: Naegleria fowleri; imported infectious diseases; metagenomics; primary ameobic meningoencephalitis.

Publication types

Case Reports
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Central Nervous System Protozoal Infections* / diagnosis
Central Nervous System Protozoal Infections* / genetics
Communicable Diseases, Imported* / diagnosis
Communicable Diseases, Imported* / genetics
Fatal Outcome
Humans
Metagenomics
Rare Diseases* / diagnosis
Rare Diseases* / genetics