Identification and distribution of Acanthamoeba species genotypes associated with nonkeratitis infections.

ABSTRACT: Acanthamoeba is a free-living protozoan genus found in a wide variety of natural habitats, including water, soil, and air. Pathogenic isolates of Acanthamoeba are medically relevant as the causative agent of sight- threatening Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), serious infections of other organs, and fatal granulomatous amebic encephalitis. Previous work employing DNA sequences of nuclear and mitochondrial small-subunit rRNA genes (SSU rRNA genes) determined the genotypic diversity of Acanthamoeba and found that many named species of Acanthamoeba are associated with particular genotypes. These studies also concluded that nearly all AK infections result from a single molecular genotype: T4. Here, we asked whether Acanthamoeba clinical isolates from non-AK infections are also associated with parti

SUBMITTER: Booton GC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1081337 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature