Acanthamoeba Infection in a Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipient: Challenges in Diagnosis, Management, and Source Identification

Abstract

We report a case of Acanthamoeba infection in an HCT recipient with steroid-refractory GVHD. We highlight the multiple challenges that free-living ameba infections present to the clinician, the clinical laboratory, transplant infectious disease for review, hospital epidemiology if nosocomial transmission is considered, and public health officials, as exposure source identification can be a significant challenge. Transplant physicians should include Acanthamoeba infections in their differential diagnosis of a patient with skin, sinus, lung, and/or brain involvement.

Keywords: Acanthamoeba; HCT; free‐living ameba; nosocomial.