CDC Suggests Use of 'Brain-Eating' Bug Meds

'Brain-eating' bug meds may offer a survival advantage in cases of infection by free-living amebae, according to an announcement released Thursday.

The report which was published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report claimed that Miltefosine (MIltex) is being used to treat leishmaniasis but is not yet readily available in the United States.

The announcement came at the time when physicians in Florida and Arkansas were treating two children suffering from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a so-called 'brain-eating' disease caused by N. Fowleri.

According to Med Page Today, "Such infections are rare, difficult to treat and are almost always fatal."

The CDC data showed that only one person out of 128 infected with the disease between the years 1962 and 2012 survived.

The CDC announcement claimed that miltefosine has not yet led to the successful therapy of N. Fowleri infection because it has been very difficult to import it in time to treat fulminant cases.

But the agency further stated that there is some evidence that the drug "does offer a survival advantage," according to Med Page Today.

As of late, two 12-year old children remain in the hospital after being infected with N. Fowleri.