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Acanthamoeba genotypes T3 and T4 as causative agents of amoebic keratitis in Mexico

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Abstract

Free-living amoebae (FLA) are widely distributed worldwide. Some genera included in this group act as opportunistic pathogens causing fatal encephalitis and Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), a sight-threatening infection of the cornea associated with the use of soft contact lenses that could even end in blindness if an early diagnosis and treatment are not achieved. Furthermore, the numbers of AK cases keep rising worldwide mainly due to an increase of contact lens wearers and lack of hygiene in the maintenance of lenses and their cases. In Mexico, no cases of AK have been described so far although the isolation of other pathogenic FLA such as Naegleria fowleri and Balamuthia mandrillaris from both clinical and environmental sources has been reported. The present study reports two cases of Acanthamoeba keratitis diagnosed in two patients admitted to the Hospital “Luis Sánchez Bulnes” for Blindness Prevention in Mexico City, Mexico. Corneal scrapes and contact lenses were checked for the presence of Acanthamoeba strains in both patients. Strains were axenized after initial isolation to classify at the genotype level. After sequencing the diagnostic fragment 3 (DF3) region located on the 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene of Acanthamoeba, genotype T3 and genotype T4 were identified in clinical case 1 and 2, respectively. To our knowledge, these are the first reported cases of AK in Mexico in the literature and the first description of Acanthamoeba genotypes T3 and T4 as causative agents of amoebic infection.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the UNAM FESI grants FESI-DIP-PAPCA-2014-21. JLM was supported by the Ramón y Cajal Subprogramme from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competivity RYC-2011-08863 and grants RICET (project no. RD12/0018/0012), FIS PI13/00490 “Protozoosis Emergentes por Amebas de Vida Libre: Aislamiento, Caracterización, Nuevas Aproximaciones Terapéuticas y Traslación Clínica de los Resultados” from the Project ref. AGUA3 “Amebas de Vida Libre como Marcadores de Calidad del Agua” from Fundación Cajacanarias.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Superior Studies Iztacala, UNAM, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, Mexico State, Mexico

    Maritza Omaña-Molina, Dolores Hernandez-Martinez & Elizabeth Ramirez-Flores

  2. Hospital “Luis Sánchez Bulnes” for Blindness Prevention, Mexico City, Mexico

    Virginia Vanzzini-Zago & Eric Oregon-Miranda

  3. Department of Infectomic and Molecular Pathogenesis, Center for Research and Advanced Studies, Mexico City, Mexico

    Arturo Gonzalez-Robles, Lizbeth Salazar-Villatoro & Adolfo Martinez-Palomo

  4. University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of The Canary Islands, University of La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain

    Jacob Lorenzo-Morales

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  1. Maritza Omaña-Molina
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  2. Virginia Vanzzini-Zago
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  3. Dolores Hernandez-Martinez
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  4. Arturo Gonzalez-Robles
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  5. Lizbeth Salazar-Villatoro
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  9. Adolfo Martinez-Palomo
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Correspondence to Maritza Omaña-Molina.

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Omaña-Molina, M., Vanzzini-Zago, V., Hernandez-Martinez, D. et al. Acanthamoeba genotypes T3 and T4 as causative agents of amoebic keratitis in Mexico. Parasitol Res 115, 873–878 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4821-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4821-4

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