The genotypic characterisation of Acanthamoeba isolates from human ocular samples.

Laboratoire de Parasitologie Mycologie, Hôpital Cochin, 27 rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, 75014 Paris, France. helene.yera@cch.aphp.fr

BACKGROUND: We characterised 37 amoebae cultured from corneal scrapings, contact lenses or lens case solutions of patients with suspected Acanthamoeba keratitis. METHODS: The isolates were identified by their morphology and by PCR targeting the Acanthamoeba nuclear small-subunit rRNA gene. Acanthamoeba isolates were genotyped by DNA sequence analysis. RESULTS: The 37 isolates comprised 35 Acanthamoeba, one Hartmannella and one Vahlkampfia. Ten Acanthamoeba isolates were shown to be responsible for keratitis. CONCLUSION: Genotype T4 was the only Acanthamoeba genotype responsible for keratitis in this study, and represented 79% of non-pathogenic isolates.

PMID: 18586902 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]