Se enviaron muestras de tejido y de suero del paciente a Julio Martínez, Department of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, University of Pittburgh, E.U.A. y a Govinda Visvesvara de Division of Parasitic Diseases, Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC, Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA, E.U.A., quienes confirmaron los diagnósticos de la autopsia e identificaron a la ameba involucrada en este caso como Balamuthia mandrillaris.