Acanthamoeba Species in Tap Water, Egypt

Genus Acanthamoeba causes 3 clinical syndromes amebic keratitis, granulomatous amebic encephalitis and disseminated granulomatous amebic disease (eg, sinus, skin and pulmonary infections). A total of 144 tap water samples were collected from Giza governorate, Egypt. Samples were processed for detection of Acanthamoeba species using non-nutrient agar (NNA) and were incubated at 30oC. The isolates of Acanthamoeba were identified to species level based on the morphologic criteria. Molecular characterization of the Acanthamoeba isolates to genus level was performed by using PCR. The obtained results showed that the highest occurrence percentage of Acanthamoeba species in water samples was observed in summer season (38.9%), then it decreased to be 30.6% in spring and 25% in each of autumn and winter. PCR analysis showed that 100% of 43 Acanthamoeba morphologically positive samples were positive by genus specific primer. In the present study eight species of Acanthamoeba can be morphologically recognized namely Acanthamoeba triangularis, Acanthamoeba echinulata, Acanthamoeba astronyxis, Acanthamoeba comandoni, Acanthamoeba griffini, Acanthamoeba culbertsoni, Acanthamoeba quina and Acanthamoeba lenticulata. In conclusion, the most common Acanthamoeba species in tap water was Acanthamoeba comandoni.