Morphological, physiological and molecular biological characterisation of isolates from first cases of Acanthamoeba keratitis in Slovakia

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) 2010-03, Vol.106 (4), p.861-872
• Main Authors: Nagyová, Viera, Nagy, Arpád, Timko, Jozef
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acanthamoeba; Acanthamoeba - classification; Acanthamoeba - genetics; Acanthamoeba - isolation & purification; Acanthamoeba - physiology; Acanthamoeba keratitis; Acanthamoeba Keratitis - parasitology; Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell culture; Cluster Analysis; Cornea; Cornea - parasitology; Czech Republic; Development and progression; DNA, Protozoan - chemistry; DNA, Protozoan - genetics; DNA, Ribosomal - chemistry; DNA, Ribosomal - genetics; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General aspects and techniques. Study of several systematic groups. Models; Genes, rRNA; Genetic aspects; Genotype; Genotypes; Humans; Immunology; Invertebrates; Keratitis; Male; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Middle Aged; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Morphology; Nucleotide sequence; Original Paper; Phylogeny; Physiological aspects; Polymerase chain reaction; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); RNA, Protozoan - genetics; RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - genetics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Slovakia; Temperature tolerance; Vero cells
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-010-1731-3

Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) is a relatively rare disease worldwide. Over the past 10 years, five cases of AK were reported in Slovakia. Four preserved Slovak strains and one strain from the Czech Republic isolated from corneal scrapes of patients with AK are characterised in this study. Genotype identification of isolates is based on sequences of the PCR amplimer GTSA.B1 amplified from 18S ribosomal DNA. A strain isolated from the first patient in 1999 was classified as a rare sequence type T15. This is just the second report in which genotype T15 has been associated with AK. The other three Slovak strains were identified as belonging to the most common genotype T4. The only strain originating from the Czech Republic was classified as sporadically appearing sequence type T3. All isolates were also studied for their temperature tolerance and growth characteristics. The cythopatic effect was tested in vitro on Vero cell cultures.