Background and Objectives: In the most Iranian hospitals the internal air is cooled by a system comprising centrifugal blower fan and excelsior filters. Because amoeba can be present in air and dust it may enter into filters of cooling systems. It has been suggested that diffusion of amoebae cyst through air canals may contribute to various types of nosocomial infections. This ...

Free-living amoebae pose a potential health risk in water systems as they may be pathogenic and harbor potential pathogenic bacteria known as amoebae resistant bacteria. Free-living amoebae were observed in 150 (87.2%) of the environmental water samples. In particular, Acanthamoeba sp. was identified in 22 (12.8%) using amoebal enrichment and confirmed by molecular analysis. FLA were isolated i...

Waterborne transmission of the oocyst stage of Toxoplasma gondii can cause outbreaks of clinical toxoplasmosis in humans and infection of marine mammals. In water-related environments and soil, free-living amoebae are considered potential carriers of various pathogens, but knowledge on interactions with parasitic protozoa remains elusive. In the present study, we assessed whether the free-livin...

Free-living amoebae (FLA) belonging to Acanthamoeba and Sappinia genera as well as Balamuthia mandrillaris and Naegleria fowleri species are aerobic, mitochondriate, eukaryotic protists that occur worldwide and can potentially cause infections in humans and other animals (Visvesvara and Maguire, 2006; Visvesvara et al., 2007). Due to the fact that these amoebae have the ability to exist as free...

The aim of the study was to improve understanding of the role of amoebae in the protection and proliferation of pathogens in distribution systems. Although ‘amoebae’ was used in the request for proposal (RFP), free living protozoa (FLP) is a more appropriate term that the research team has used throughout this report. Strictly, amoebae are only part of the FLP that interact with bacteria and ar...

Lobose amoebae are abundant free-living protists and important pathogenic agents, yet their evolutionary history and position in the universal tree of life are poorly known. Molecular data for lobose amoebae are limited to a few species, and all phylogenetic studies published so far lacked representatives of many of their taxonomic groups. Here we analyze actin and small-subunit ribosomal RNA (...

Rotavirus and pathogenic free-living amoebae are causative agents of important health problems, especially for developing countries like Pakistan where the population has limited access to clean water supplies. Here, we evaluated the prevalence of rotavirus and free-living amoebae (Acanthamoeba spp., Balamuthia mandrillaris, Naegleria fowleri) in drinking water supplies of Karachi, Pakistan. Si...