Introduction
Acanthamoebae are probably the most common, most known, and most widely distributed facultatively parasitic, free-living (naked) amoebae.
Infectious Agent
Infectious agents of the acanthamoebiasis are obligate parasitic free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba. Acanthamoebae are ubiquitarily distributed worldwide within natural and artificial habitats/substrates. In the environment, they survive in many different substrates and biofilms, where they belong to the normal flora and feed on bacteria and fungi in your environment. Certain species (better: strains) are described as infectious agents of disease symptoms. Among these species, there are pathogenic and not or less pathogenic strains. The acanthamoebae belong to the Sarcomastigophora (Rhizopoda), phylum Sarcodina, class Lobosea, subclass Gymnamoebia, order Amoebida (Centramoebida, Acanthopodida), family Acanthamoebidae, and genus Acanthamoeba.
Life Cycle
The motile, multiplying and metabolically active,...
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References
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Scheid, P.L. (2016). Free-Living Amoebae as Human Pathogens: (Genus) Acanthamoeba. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43978-4_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43978-4_8
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