pathogenic free-living amoebae isolated from contact lenses of keratitis patients

background: free-living amoeba (fla)-related keratitis is a progressive infection of the cornea with poor prognosis. the present study aimed to investigates the con­tact lenses of patients with keratitis for pathogenic free-living amoebae. methods: overall, 62 contact lenses and their paraphernalia of patients with kerati­tis cultured and tested for the presence of free-living amoebae using morphological criteria. unusual plates including plates containing mix amoebae and vermamoeba were submitted to molecular analysis. results: out of 62 plates, 11 revealed the outgrowth of free living amoeba of which 9 were acanthamoeba , one plates contained mix amoebae including acan­thamoeba and vermamoeba and one showed the presence of vermamoeba . these two latter plates belonged to patients suffered from unilateral keratitis due to the mis­used of soft contact lenses. one of the patients had mix infection of acanthamoeba (t4) and v. vermiformis meanwhile the other patient was infected with the v. vermiformis . conclusion: amoebic keratitis continues to rise in iran and worldwide. to date, various genera of free-living amoebae such as vermamoeba could be the causative agent of keratitis. soft contact lens wearers are the most affected patients in the country, thus awareness of high-risk people for preventing free-living amoebae re­lated keratitis is of utmost importance.