Acanthamoeba- related infections, such as amoebic keratitis and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis, can develop in high-risk population through contaminated water sources. Thus, surveying water resources, particularly those available for human use, is of the utmost importance. In the present study, 67 water samples were collected from water resources in East Azerbaijan, a province in northweste...

The present work focuses on a local survey of free-living amoebae (FLA) that cause opportunistic and nonopportunistic infections in humans. Determining the prevalence of FLA in water sources can shine a light on the need to prevent FLA related illnesses. A total of 150 samples of tap water were collected from six districts of Sivas province. The samples were filtered and seeded on nonnutrient a...

The pathogenesis of Acanthamoeba keratitis begins when Acanthamoeba trophozoites bind specifically to mannosylated glycoproteins upregulated on the surfaces of traumatized corneal epithelial cells. When Acanthamoeba castellanii trophozoites are grown in methyl-alpha-D-mannopyranoside, they are induced to secrete a novel 133-kDa protein that is cytolytic to corneal epithelial cells. Clinical iso...

Introduction: Acanthamoeba is an opportunistic protist, which is ubiquitously distributed in the environment. Infection with Acanthamoeba spp. poses threat to human health, such as, Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) that is a vision-threatening infection of the cornea. This study aimed to identify the species of Acanthamoeba strains isolated from cornea of keratitis patients by polymerase chain react...

background : acanthamoeba castellanii forms a resistant cyst that protects the para-site against the host’s immune response. acanthamoeba type-i metacaspase (acmcp) is a caspase-like protein that has been found to be expressed during the encysta-tions. dictyostelium discoideum is an organism closely related to acanthamoeba useful for studying the molecular function of this protozoan caspase-lik...

BACKGROUND Acanthamoeba is an opportunistic amphizoic protozoan found in different water sources including swimming pool as well as in sewage. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Acanthamoeba in tap-water samples in Iran. METHOD In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 94 samples of cold and warm tap-water were collected from different wards of hospitals in 13 cities ...

PURPOSE This study examined possible mechanisms to explain why Acanthamoeba castellanii remains restricted to the cornea and rarely produces intraocular infections. The first hypothesis proposed that trophozoites cannot penetrate Descemet's membrane and the corneal endothelium to enter the anterior chamber (AC). The second hypothesis proposed that the trophozoites can enter the AC; however, the...

Conventional diagnostic tests for legionellosis were negative for a 61-year-old immunocompromised man with pneumonia. However, coculture of a sputum sample with Acanthamoeba polyphaga amoebae led to the recovery of Legionella anisa. This procedure may be a sensitive and convenient diagnostic method, especially for non-Legionella pneumophila species infections that can be diagnosed only by culture.