PURPOSE To produce animal models of Acanthamoeba keratitis and to evaluate the advantages and adaptation range of each of the three methods employed. MATERIALS AND METHODS Mice and Wistar rats in three groups of 15 rats and 15 mice each were used to establish the models. Right corneas in group A were scratched and challenged with Acanthamoeba. Those in group B were scratched and covered with ...

Acanthamoeba keratitis is uncommon, but one of the most severe infectious diseases of the cornea. Delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis as bacterial or herpes simplex keratitis leads to extensive corneal inflammation and profound visual loss. Therefore, accurate and rapid diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis is essential for successful treatment and good prognosis. We evaluated the usefulness of acr...

Members of the free-living amebic genera Acanthamoeba, Balamuthia, and Naegleria are known to cause infections of the central nervous system (CNS) of humans and other animals. Several species of Acanthamoeba cause an insidious and chronic disease, granulomatous amebic encephalitis (GAE), principally in immunocompromised hosts including persons infected with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, Acanthamoeba ...

Acanthamoeba are typically identified in the laboratory using culture and microscopic observation. In this paper we describe the isolation and specificity of antibody fragments that can be used for the identification of Acanthamoeba. A phage library expressing a large repertoire (approx. 5 x 10(9)) of antibody fragments was used to generate two libraries one enriched for bacteriophage that exhi...

Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living protozoan pathogen capable of causing a blinding keratitis and fatal granulomatous encephalitis. Current treatment generally involves an hourly application of polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) over a period of several days but this is not entirely effective against all strains/isolates. The tolerance mechanisms of PHMB in Acanthamoeba cells remain uncl...

Species of Acanthamoeba have been traditionally described using morphology (primarily cyst structure), or cytology of nuclear division (used by Pussard and Pons, 1977). Twenty-plus putative species were proposed based on such criteria. Morphology, however, is often plastic, dependent upon culture conditions. DNA sequences of the nuclear small subunit (18S) rRNA that can be used for the study of...

Six pathogenic strains of Naegleria fowleri, two of Acanthamoeba castellanii, and three of Acanthamoeba polyphaga were tested in vitro for susceptibility to a variety of potentially useful therapeutic agents. Minimal motility inhibitory concentrations and minimal inhibitory concentrations were determined by a technique of subculturing pure clones of amoebae in plastic tissue culture chamber sli...

PURPOSE To determine the role of contact lenses, corneal trauma, and Langerhans cells in the development of keratitis caused by Acanthamoeba organisms in Chinese hamsters. METHODS Various methods were used to induce corneal infections in Chinese hamsters, including application of parasite-laden contact lenses. The role of corneal epithelial defects in promoting parasite binding was examined i...

ABSTR ACT: Aspergillus and Acanthamoeba cause central nervous system (CNS) infection mostly in immunocompromised hosts, disseminating via the hematogenous route from a primary focus in the respiratory tract. We are presenting a case of an immunocompetent patient diagnosed with Aspergillus and Acanthamoeba coinfection of the CNS, a rare finding. A positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) galactomannan...

OBJECTIVES Amoebic keratitis is difficult to treat, without total efficacy in some patients because of cysts that are less susceptible than trophozoites to the usual treatments. We investigated here the in vitro effectiveness of caspofungin, a new antifungal, against three species of Acanthamoeba. METHODS Trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba castellanii, Acanthamoeba culbertsoni and Acantha...