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Isolation and Molecular Identification of Naegleria australiensis in Irrigation Water of Fuerteventura Island, Spain

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Abstract

Introduction

Saline groundwater desalination has recently emerged as an alternative source of irrigation water in arid and semiarid regions due to the gradual reduction in the quantity and quality of conventional water resources for agricultural use. In Fuerteventura Island (Spain), an extremely arid territory in the European Union, brackish water desalination is one of the few available water sources for agricultural production. Very little research has been conducted on the microbiological quality of this water mainly used for irrigation of vegetable crops. Free-living amoebae (FLA) are widely distributed protozoa in the environment and have been isolated from many environmental sources such as dust, soil and water. Among the pathogenic genera included in this group, Acanthamoeba spp., Naegleria fowleri and Balamuthia mandrillaris have been reported to be causative agents of lethal encephalitis, disseminated infections and keratitis. Particularly, Naegleria fowleri is a pathogenic FLA species which causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

Materials and Methods

In the present study, the presence of pathogenic FLA strains on desalinated brackish water samples for irrigation has been evaluated during 7 months.

Results

From the analysed samples, only one was positive for Naegleria australiensis. This is the first report of Naegleria spp. in desalinated brackish water for irrigation in Spain.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the proyect FIS PI18/01380 “Protozoosis emergentes por amebas de vida libre: Mejora de estrategias de diagnóstico, nuevas terapias y mecanismo de acción y traslación clínicas de los resultados” and Project AGL2013-46054-R. Spanish Ministry of Economic and Competitiveness. MRB was supported by the grants RICET [project no. RD16/0027/0001 of the programme of Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa, FIS], Spanish Ministry of Health, Madrid, Spain Spanish Ministry of Health, Madrid, Spain. ALA and IS were funded by the Agustín de Betancourt Programme. OC was supported by a grant from Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and the International Relationships Vicechancellor at the Universidad de La Laguna. JEPB was funded by Proyectos puente al Plan Estatal de I + D+I. Plan Propio 2018 Universidad de La Laguna.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Islas Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Av. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n, Tenerife, Spain

    María Reyes-Batlle, Aitor Rizo-Liendo, Rubén A. Viera-Santana, Sara Afonso-Morales, Atteneri López-Arencibia, Ines Sifaoui, Olfa Chiboub, Carlos J. Bethencourt-Estrella, Desirée San Nicolás-Hernández, Rubén L. Rodríguez-Expósito, Jonadab Zamora-Herrera, Basilio Valladares, José E. Piñero & Jacob Lorenzo-Morales

  2. Laboratoire Matériaux-Molécules et Applications, La Marsa, University of Carthage, Carthage, Tunisia

    Ines Sifaoui & Olfa Chiboub

  3. Department of Animal Biology, Soil Science and Geology, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

    Francisco J. Díaz

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  1. María Reyes-Batlle
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Correspondence to José E. Piñero.

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Reyes-Batlle, M., Rizo-Liendo, A., Viera-Santana, R.A. et al. Isolation and Molecular Identification of Naegleria australiensis in Irrigation Water of Fuerteventura Island, Spain. Acta Parasit. 64, 331–335 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-019-00046-8

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