Isolation and identification of pathogenic Acanthamoeba species from air conditioning systems, Egypt

Abstract

Acanthamoeba species are free-living amoebae causing granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and keratitis. This study aimed to identify Acanthamoeba isolated from air conditioning systems by culture method and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and testing its pathogenicity by thermo-tolerance and animal inoculation. Out of the 80 dust samples, 41 (51.25%) were found to be positive as Acanthamoeba spp. by culture method. These samples were confirmed positive by PCR. Regarding pathogenicity, out of 41 samples, 27 (65.9%) were thermo-tolerant and 16 (39%) samples could infect mice and caused histopathological effects. Highly pathogenic Acanthamoeba isolates were characterized by a thermo-tolerance ability and disseminated in all mice organs after infection causing early mice death. This work confirmed that the presence of pathogenic isolates of Acanthamoeba potentially infectious to humans in air-conditioners.