purpose: to present 2 cases of acanthamoeba keratitis diagnosed by confocal scanning before positive results of smear and culture, and their successful treatment with combined medical therapy and corneal epithelial debridment. patients and findings: confocal scan was carried out in 2 contact lens wearers with a clinical diagnosis of acanthamoeba keratitis followed by corneal epithelial debridme...

background: acanthamoeba genus is introduced as opportunistic and cosmopoli-tan parasite. monkey and wistar rat are appropriate models for experimental study on acanthamoeba infection. in this study acanthamoeba spp. were isolated from hot spring (hs), windows dust (wd) and a corneal sample of keratitis patient (kp) and their pathogenicity surveyed by in vitro and in vivo tests. methods: isolat...

conclusions a relatively high prevalence of acanthamoeba spp. in rivers reflects a risk alert for threatening human health in the region. however, well hygienic status of the tap waters considering acanthamoeba spp. cannot be ignored in western co-border regions of iran-iraq. this study can also serve as a platform for further explorations of water sources in iran and neighboring countries. res...

PURPOSE To describe the course and outcome of treatment of advanced Acanthamoeba sclerokeratitis with intravenous pentamidine. METHODS A case of advanced Acanthamoeba sclerokeratitis was resistant to conventional therapy and was treated with intravenous pentamidine. The eye was later removed due to incapacitating pain. RESULTS The eye showed Acanthamoeba organisms within the cornea and evid...

Free-living amoebae are widely distributed in soil and water. Small number of them was implicated in human disease: Acanthamoeba spp., Naegleria fowleri, Balamuthia mandrillaris and Sappinia diploidea. Some of the infections were opportunistic, occurring mainly in immunocompromised hosts (Acanthamoeba and Balamuthia encephalitis) while others are non opportunistic (Acanthamoeba keratitis, Naegl...

Since 1996, a new classification system has been used to assign members of the genus Acanthamoeba to different sequence types. This study aimed to place the thermophilic species Acanthamoeba jacobsi into the sequence type classification by sequencing part of the 18S rRNA gene for six isolates of this species. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences showed the six strains to be closely related an...

The free living amoeba, Acanthamoeba spp are found and distributed in a wide variety of environmental sources including air, water, soil dust, vegetables as well as the skin, cornea, lung and brain of human (1). Isolation of Acanthamoeba cyst from environmental sources such as soil, fresh surface water and stagnant water have been showed that this environmental sources have potential importance...

lesions in 1 week. Noncompliance with oral medications during October 1995 was associated with the appearance of new skin lesions. A new multidrug regimen was started in December 1995 with the combination of itraconazole (400 mg/d orally) and pentamidine (150 mg/d for 5 days and then 300 mg/d for 6 days intramuscularly). No improvement was observed. The initial therapeutic regimen (5fluorocytos...

PURPOSE A recent increase in Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) cases has been associated with Complete MoisturePlus, although many cases used other solutions. Complete MoisturePlus contains taurine and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, unlike other multipurpose solutions (MPSs). The purpose of this study is to (1) determine contact lens solution efficacy against recent clinical and tap water Acanthamoeb...

PURPOSE The incidence of acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) in the UK is some 15 times that in the United States and seven times that in Holland. To investigate reasons for this higher frequency, a study of the role of domestic tap water as a potential source of AK was undertaken. METHODS Tap outlets from the homes of 27 patients with culture-proven AK were sampled and cultured for free-living amoeb...