BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a painful and vision-threatening ocular infection. The differentiation of Acanthamoeba at the species and subspecies level is complicated. Nearly all the AK isolates have been shown to belong to T4 genotype when analysed by ribosomal RNA gene sequences and there is no universally acceptable method for differentiation of different subtypes o...

background: acanthamoeba spp . are free-living amebas found in a wide variety of natural habitats. the high percentage of acanthamoeba in different environmental sources represents a sanitary risk for public health especially contact lens users and immunocompromised patients. the aim of this study was to determine the presence of acanthamoeba spp. in different environments such as water, soil, ...

background : free-living amoebae such as acanthamoeba species may act as carriers of cryptosporidium and toxoplasma oocysts, thus, may play an important role in the water-borne transmission of these parasites. in the present study, a loop mediated isothermal amplification (lamp) method for detection of toxoplasma and a pcr assay were developed for investigation of acanthamoeba in environmental ...

Meningoencephalitis caused by Acanthamoeba spp. is a rare opportunistic infection, difficult to diagnose and treat, which causes death in almost all cases. Here, the authors report a 5-year-old Iranian immunocompetent girl who died of fulminant acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis in Iran.

Acanthamoeba keratitis is an uncommon but potentially devastating complication of contact lens wear. We present a case of Acanthamoeba keratitis in a soft-contact-lens wearer successfully treated with long-term medical therapy and penetrating keratoplasty. To our knowledge this is the first case of Acanthamoeba keratitis diagnosed in Canada.

Acanthamoeba is a "Trojan horse" of the microbial world. The aim of this study was to identify the presence of Pseudomonas as an amoeba-resistant microorganism in 12 isolates of Acanthamoeba. All isolates showed the genus Pseudomonas spp. as amoeba-resistant microorganisms. Thus, one can see that the Acanthamoeba isolates studied are hosts of Pseudomonas.

Acanthamoeba encephalitis is an uncommon but often fatal infection complication. Here we report the first case of Acanthamoeba encephalitis in a patient with a Total Artificial Heart device.

Extracts of Acanthamoeba castellanii were previously known to contain two myosin-like ATPases: Acanthumoeba myosin II, a double-headed enzyme of native molecular weight of about 400,000 comprised of two heavy chains of about 170,000 daltons and two pairs of light chains of about 17,500 and 17,000 daltons; and Acanthxwweba myosin I, a single-headed enzyme of native molecular weight of about 180,...

Dear Editor, Acanthamoeba species are opportunistic pathogens that can cause life-threatening diseases in the immunocompromised host. In healthy individuals, Acanthamoeba can cause ulcerating keratitis, which is associated with the use of improperly sterilised contact lenses, trauma or washing with contaminated water.1 Reports have shown that the defenses of a healthy host seemed sufficient to ...

Autophagy-related protein 8 (Atg8) is an essential component of autophagy formation and encystment of cyst-forming parasites, and some protozoa, such as, Acanthamoeba, Entamoeba, and Dictyostelium, have been reported to possess a type of Atg8. In this study, an isoform of Atg8 was identified and characterized in Acanthamoeba castellanii (AcAtg8b). AcAtg8b protein was found to encode 132 amino a...