Isolation of Acanthamoeba culbertsoni from a patient with meningitis.

A case of amoebic meningitis, presumably primary, was encountered in the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, South India, in November 1983. The patient, a 40-year-old man, had cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea before the meningitis developed. Acanthamoeba culbertsoni was repeatedly demonstrated in and cultured from the cerebrospinal fluid. The patient responded dramatically to a combination therapy of penicillin and chloramphenicol.