A Morphological Approach to the Diagnosis of Protozoal Infections of the Central Nervous System

Table 1

Protozoal infections that may affect the central nervous system.

Amoebiasis; Cerebral abscess; Entamoeba histolytica; Primary amoebic encephalitis (free living amoebae); (a) Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis; Naegleria fowleri; (b) Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis; Acanthamoeba spp.; Balamuthia mandrillaris; Leptomixed amoebas; Sappinia diploidea
Cerebral malaria; Plasmodium falciparum
Toxoplasmosis; Toxoplasma gondii
Trypanosomiasis; African trypanosomiasis (Sleeping sickness); Trypanosoma brucei gambiense; Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense; South American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease); Trypanosoma cruzi.
Microsporidiosis; Encephalitozoon spp
Leishmaniasis; Leishmania spp

Note that cerebral leishmaniasis is exceedingly rare, and microsporidial infections have become apparent as significant human CNS diseases only in the last decades.