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First Evidence for Colonizing of Acanthamoeba T4 Genotype in Urinary Tracts of Patients with Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections

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Abstract

Background

Limited evidence about the presence of Acanthamoeba spp. in urine specimens collected from urinary catheters of the patients in the intensive care units persuaded our study. No evidence has been found about colonizing of Acanthamoeba spp., in urinary tracts of patients with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) yet.

Methods

In this study, 50 urine samples were collected from patients presenting with recurrent UTI. The type of bacteria causing UTI was determined by using bacteriological tests. To cultivate Acanthamoeba spp., in a sterile condition, 10 mL of urine was centrifuged and the sediment was cultivated on non-nutrient agar. Genotypes were determined by sequencing the DF3 region of the 18S rRNA gene.

Results

The bacteriological test findings on the urine samples of the UTI patients (n = 30) demonstrated that those were found to be positive for Escherichia coli (n = 17), Staphylococcus aureus (n = 6), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 4) and Klebsiella spp. (n = 3) respectively. Moreover, a total of 50 urine samples was examined; 6 (6/50; 12%) and 11 (11/50; 22%) were positive by using culture and the PCR test for Acanthamoeba spp., respectively. Sequencing analysis showed all isolates were T4 genotype.

Conclusions

Our data showed that the high relative prevalence of Acanthamoeba T4 genotype spp., in the urine of recurrent UTI patients. As well as, providing the first evidence for colonizing of the Acanthamoeba in the urinary tracts of patients with recurrent UTIs. These findings, warrant further investigation among those patients to fully appraise the role of Acanthamoeba spp., as possible latent carriers for resistant bacteria and biofilm formation in the future.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Toxoplasmosis Research Centre (TRC), Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences (Grant no. 4999). We are also grateful of Mrs. Maryam Nakhaei for their kind assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 48471-91971, Sari, Iran

    Reza Saberi, Mahdi Fakhar, Rabeeh Tabaripour & Shabnam Asfaram

  2. Student Research Committee, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Reza Saberi

  3. Iranian National Registry Center for Lophomoniasis and Toxoplasmosis, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Mahdi Fakhar, Atieh Makhlough & Rabeeh Tabaripour

  4. Department of Nephrology, Toxoplasmosis Research Center, School of Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Atieh Makhlough, Omid Sedighi & Fatemeh Espahbodi

  5. Department of Medical Parasitology, School of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Alireza Latifi

  6. Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Iranian National Registry Center for Lophomoniasis and Toxoplasmosis, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Ali Sharifpour

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  1. Reza Saberi
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Contributions

MF, AM and RS, designed all steps of the study. MF, FE, ASh and OS contributed to sample preparation and planned the experiments. RS, ShA, RT and AL carried out the experiments. RS wrote the manuscript with support from MF and AM. All authors read, revised, and approved the final draft.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mahdi Fakhar or Atieh Makhlough.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Saberi, R., Fakhar, M., Makhlough, A. et al. First Evidence for Colonizing of Acanthamoeba T4 Genotype in Urinary Tracts of Patients with Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections. Acta Parasit. 66, 932–937 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-021-00358-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-021-00358-8

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