Dear Editor
We are writing to express concern over an article in press in Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease: Heggie TW and Kupper T, Surviving Naegleria fowleri infections: A successful case report and novel therapeutic approach (1). This article describes the successful treatment of a person infected with Naegleria fowleri primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).
In the March 2015 volume of Pediatrics, my colleagues and I published an authoritative report of this case (2). I am the clinician who oversaw the care of the patient. My co-authors are members of the medical team that cared for the patient and the CDC clinical and laboratory experts on N. fowleri who consulted on the case and performed specialized diagnostic tests at CDC laboratories. Our paper provided comprehensive clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic review of this case, along with a detailed review of the history, pathophysiology, epidemiology, and therapeutic pharmacology of N. fowleri-associated PAM.
In their paper in Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, Heggie and Kupper fail to cite our definitive case report. Their description of the case differs from ours; they do not explain where they obtained their information about the case, which in some respects is erroneous. Heggie and Kupper are not known to us and had no role in caring for this patient. Though they do not explicitly claim to have been involved in the care of this patient, their article is written in a way that would leave the reader thinking they were.
My concern, shared by colleagues here and at the CDC, is that Heggie and Kupper’s failure to cite our definitive case report denies their article’s readers the opportunity to examine the most accurate and comprehensive description of the case. This deficiency is aggravated by the fact that Heggie and Kupper’s paper contains errors with respect to the case. This situation is not to the advantage of clinicians seeking accurate information to optimally treat future patients, or researchers seeking to understand the disease and its treatment.
Sincerely,
W. Matthew Linam, MD, MS, Corresponding Author, Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Jennifer R. Cope, MD, MPH, Medical Epidemiologist, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Contributor Information
W. Matthew Linam, Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Jennifer R. Cope, Medical Epidemiologist, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
References
- 1.Heggie TW, Kupper T. Surviving Naegleria fowleri infections: a successful case report and novel therapeutic approach. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2016 doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2016.12.005. Epub ahead of print. [DOI] [PubMed]
- 2.Linam WM, Ahmed M, Cope JR, Chu C, Visvesvara GS, da Silva AJ, Qvarnstrom Y, Green J. Successful treatment of an adolescent with Naegleria fowleri primary amebic meningoencephalitis. Pediatrics. 2015;135:e744–8. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-2292. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]