When a patient in California was diagnosed with a rare and highly fatal brain-eating amoebic infection, physicians concocted a treatment plan that included nitroxoline — the drug most commonly known for treating urinary tract infections — which ultimately led to the patient's survival.
The patient, a man in his mid-50s, had no previous noteworthy medical history and received treatment at the University of California, San Francisco.
"After one week of nitroxoline treatment, MRI showed decreased size of the cerebral abscesses and no new lesions compared with MRI before nitroxoline," researchers who treated the patient wrote.
Post-discharge, the patient's lesions continued to show improvement. Now 15 months out, he regularly takes nitroxoline as well as other medications, but has been able to continue life in his community with assistance from family members.
"Repurposed use of nitroxoline associated with survival from B. mandrillaris GAE demonstrates the potential of basic research to identify antiamebic agents that improve outcome of this rare and deadly disease," researchers noted.
Other researchers not affiliated with the care or published findings have cited the case as "a breakthrough in treating a brain infection that's long been presumed to be a death sentence," they told Science.