Rapid, Noninvasive Diagnosis of Balamuthia mandrillaris Encephalitis by a Plasma-Based Next-Generation Sequencing Test

Gautam Kalyatanda; Kenneth Rand; Martin S Lindner; David K Hong; Mehmet Sait Albayram; Jason Gregory; Jesse Kresak; Karim M Ali Ibne; Jennifer R Cope; Shantanu Roy; Joy M Gary; Varalakshmi Reddy; Asim A Ahmed

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofaa189

Rapid, Noninvasive Diagnosis of Balamuthia mandrillaris Encephalitis by a Plasma-Based Next-Generation Sequencing Test

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020 Jun 1;7(7):ofaa189. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa189. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
² Department of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
³ Karius, Inc., Redwood City, California, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
⁵ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, USA.

Abstract

Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris is a rare subacute infection with exceptionally high mortality. Diagnosis is typically made by brain biopsy or at autopsy. Detection of Balamuthia mandrillaris cell-free DNA by next-generation sequencing of plasma enabled rapid, noninvasive diagnosis in a case of amoebic encephalitis.

Keywords: Balamuthia mandrillaris; granulomatous amoebic encephalitis; next generation sequencing; rapid diagnosis.