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Searching Simkania negevensis in environmental waters

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Abstract

Simkania negevensis is an obligate intracellular bacterium grouped into the order Chlamydiales. This new amoeba-resistant bacterium represents a novel aetiologic agent of bronchiolitis and community-acquired pneumonia in both adults and children. It has been suggested that Simkania could be an ubiquitous microorganism presented in water environments. In the natural history of infections with amoeba-related bacteria encountered in aquatic habitats, the transmissions by environmental aerosols or contaminated water/air systems have been extensively recognized. Therefore, understanding the feasibility of Simkania infection by these or similar routes is relevant. In the present work, we investigated the prevalence of this novel disease-associated microorganism in water samples from different sources by real-time PCR (qPCR). Our results show Simkania detection in 5 of 185 water analyzed samples (2.7%: 2 of 88 cooling towers and 3 of 8 waste water samples). However, no Simkania was detected in a drinking water.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Friedman from the Department of Virology and Genetic Development of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Negev, Israel, for kindly providing the positive control strain of Simkania negevensis. We also thank the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain and the Comissionat per a Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Innovacio', Universitats i Empresa de la Generalitat de Catalunya i del Fons Social Europeu for supporting this study. Financial support was provided by Alfa Network TECSPAR (RED ALFA II-0543- FI-FAFCD; Sustainable technologies for potabilization and wastewater treatment) and by grant CTM2008-06676-C05-02/TECNO from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain to Jordi Morató.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratori de Microbiologia Sanitaria i Mediambiental (MSM-Lab) & Aquasost—UNESCO Chair in Sustainability, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Edifici Gaia, Pg. Ernest Lluch/Rambla Sant Nebridi, Terrassa, 08222, Barcelona, Spain

    Leonardo Martín Pérez, Francesc Codony, Karina Ríos, Bárbara Adrados, Mariana Fittipaldi & Jordi Morató

  2. Grupo de Diagnóstico y Control de la Contaminación (GDCON), Universidad de Antioquia, Calle 67 Nro. 53 108 Bloque 21, Medellín, Colombia

    Karina Ríos & Gustavo Peñuela

  3. Stenco Industrial, Sl. Avd. Gran Vial nº 5 Montornès del Vallès 08170, Barcelona, Spain

    Gregori de Dios

  4. Lab. Microbiologia Sanitaria i Mediambiental (MSM-Lab), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Edifici Gaia, Pg. Ernest Lluch/Rambla Sant Nebridi, 08222, Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

    Francesc Codony

Authors
  1. Leonardo Martín Pérez
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  2. Francesc Codony
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  3. Karina Ríos
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  4. Gustavo Peñuela
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  5. Bárbara Adrados
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  6. Mariana Fittipaldi
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  7. Gregori de Dios
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  8. Jordi Morató
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Correspondence to Francesc Codony.

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Pérez, L.M., Codony, F., Ríos, K. et al. Searching Simkania negevensis in environmental waters. Folia Microbiol 57, 11–14 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-011-0086-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-011-0086-1

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