Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169448
Title: Pathogenic waterborne free-living amoebae: An update from selected Southeast Asian countries
Authors: Majid M.A.A.
Mahboob T.
Mong B.G.J.
Jaturas N.
Richard R.L.
Tian-Chye T.
Phimphila A.
Mahaphonh P.
Aye K.N.
Aung W.L.
Chuah J. 
Ziegler A.D. 
Yasiri A.
Sawangjaroen N.
Lim Y.A.L.
Nissapatorn V.
Keywords: chlorine
Acanthamoeba
Acanthamoeba lenticulata
Acanthamoeba triangularis
Amoeba (genus)
aquatic environment
Article
controlled study
cyst (resting stage)
disinfection
environmental monitoring
Escherichia coli
Giemsa stain
immunofluorescence
incubation temperature
Laos
microbial morphology
microscopy
Myanmar
Naegleria
nonhuman
nucleotide sequence
parasite identification
room temperature
Singapore
Southeast Asia
suspension
trophozoite
Vermamoeba vermiformis
water analysis
water quality
water sampling
water treatment
amoeba (life cycle stage)
Asian continental ancestry group
classification
genetics
human
isolation and purification
microbiology
phylogeny
Amoeba
Asian Continental Ancestry Group
Base Sequence
Humans
Phylogeny
Water Microbiology
Issue Date: 2017
Citation: Majid M.A.A., Mahboob T., Mong B.G.J., Jaturas N., Richard R.L., Tian-Chye T., Phimphila A., Mahaphonh P., Aye K.N., Aung W.L., Chuah J., Ziegler A.D., Yasiri A., Sawangjaroen N., Lim Y.A.L., Nissapatorn V. (2017). Pathogenic waterborne free-living amoebae: An update from selected Southeast Asian countries. PLoS ONE 12 (2) : e0169448. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169448
Rights: Attribution 4.0 International
Abstract: Data on the distribution of free-living amoebae is still lacking especially in Southeast Asian region. The aquatic environment revealed a high occurrence of free-living amoebae (FLA) due to its suitable condition and availability of food source, which subsequently causes infection to humans. A total of 94 water samples consisted of both treated and untreated from Laos (31), Myanmar (42), and Singapore (21) were investigated for the presence of pathogenic FLA. Each water sample was filtered and cultured onto non-nutrient agar seeded with live suspension of Escherichia coli and incubated at room temperature. Morphological identification was conducted for both trophozoites and cysts via microscopic stains (Giemsa and immunofluorescence). The presence of Naegleria-like structures was the most frequently encountered in both treated and untreated water samples, followed by Acanthamoeba-like and Vermamoeba-like features. To identify the pathogenic isolates, species-specific primer sets were applied for molecular identification of Acanthamoeba, Naegleria, and Vermamoeba. The pathogenic species of Acanthamoeba lenticulata and A. triangularis were detected from untreated water samples, while Vermamoeba vermiformis was found in both treated and untreated water samples. Our results suggested that poor water quality as well as inadequate maintenance and treatment might be the cause of this alarming problem since chlorine disinfection is ineffective in eradicating these amoebas in treated water samples. Regular monitoring and examination of water qualities are necessary in order to control the growth, hence, further preventing the widespread of FLA infections among the public. © 2017 Abdul Majid et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Source Title: PLoS ONE
URI: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/161529
ISSN: 19326203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169448
Rights: Attribution 4.0 International
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