Abstract
A survey was conducted on man-made recreational water located in different regions of Tehran, Iran to detect the free-living amoebae present in ponds and fountains of parks and squares. Fifty water samples from 22 municipal districts of Tehran were screened for free-living amoebae and identified by morphological characters and polymerase chain reaction amplification. Amoebae detected were identified as Hartmannella vermiformis (12 %) and Vannella persistens (4 %), which are the first reports of these two amoebas in recreational water environments of Iran. Since, H. vermiformis, which is highly similar to strains serving as hosts for Legionella pneumophila, is a common component of the microbial community in fresh surface water. Although Vannella spp. is not proved to be pathogenic itself, they are capable of harboring pathogenic intracellular organisms. Due to some reports related to pathogenicity of these amoebas, the particular hazard related to these microorganisms should be taken into account in the encounter with drinking and washing in these waters. We recommend control strategies based on physical removal rather than on disinfection to be adopted where necessary.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the support for a Master’s degree from grant no. 12337 to M. Nazar. The authors are indebted to Dr.SJ. Seied-Tabaii, Dr. A. Keshavarz, and Dr. M. Niyati from the Department of Parasitology and Mycology and to M. Bandepour from the Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences for their technical assistance and to Dr. Mariano Hernandez, Department of Molecular Biology, University Institute of Tropical Diseases of Canary Islands, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain in acquaintance with MEGA v.5.0 program.
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Nazar, M., Haghighi, A., Taghipour, N. et al. Molecular identification of Hartmannella vermiformis and Vannella persistens from man-made recreational water environments, Tehran, Iran. Parasitol Res 111, 835–839 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-2906-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-2906-x