Balamuthia Mandrillaris

                                                                         

                                               Mandrill

The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is the world's largest species of monkey, renowned for its vivid red and blue facial markings and extreme sexual dimorphism. Native to the rainforests of west-central Africa, these social primates live in large groups called hordes.

                              

                                   Balamuthia mandrillaris                                           

 

It is a free-living amoeba found in soil, dust, and water that causes a rare but nearly always fatal brain infection known as Granulomatous Amebic Encephalitis (GAE).

                            

  

 

Discovery in 1986 in the brain of a mandrill baboon, only about 200 cases have been reported worldwide, with a mortality rate exceeding 95%.   

                          History Of Balamuthia Mandrillaris

 Balamuthia mandrillaris was first identified in 1986 at the San Diego Zoo.

It was discovered in the brain of a deceased mandrill baboon (Mandrillus sphinx) that had developed fatal encephalitis. 

  

 The first reported human cases occurred in the late 1980s, with formal descriptions published in the early 1990s               

Govinda S. Visvesvara was a parasitologist and microbiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, USA.

He is widely recognized for identifying and characterizing Balamuthia mandrillaris and his extensive work on pathogenic free-living amoebae.

 

                         

 

                                                       Life Cycle Of Balamuthia Mandrillaris

 

 

                                                Current Events

 Rare Disease Day was first launched in 2008 by EURORDIS (European Organisation for Rare Diseases). 

 

 

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