Potentially pathogenic acanthamoeba isolated from a hospital in Brazil

Studies on free-living amoebae (FLA), has been increased in recent years, especially related to the genus Acanthamoeba, because these organisms are widely found in the environment. The present work isolated and characterized this organism from biofilms and dust in hospital environment. 135 samples were collected in 15 different environments in a hospital at the south of Brazil. Thirty-one (23%) isolates were identified as morphologically belonging to the Acanthamoeba genus and 10 of these were submitted to temperature and osmotolerance tests as criterion for evaluation of the viability and pathogenicity. The tests indicate that four (40%) of these isolates could be potentially pathogenic because grew at high temperature (40 degrees C) and osmolarity (mannitol 1 M). Some isolates genotypes were determined after ribosomal DNA sequencing. These data revealed that three dust isolates belong to T4, two biofilm isolates to T5 and one dust isolate to T3 genotype. Therefore, Acanthamoeba found in the hospital environment represents a risk for people that circulate there.