Is Acanthamoeba pathogenicity associated with intracellular bacteria?
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Updated: May 30, 2026

Discovery of New Intracellular Pathogens by Amoebal Coculture and Amoebal Enrichment Approaches
Published on: October 27, 2013
Graeme Neil Paterson1, Michael Rittig, Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui
1School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham, England, UK.
Abstract:
In addition to the possible role of Acanthamoeba as an evolutionary precursor of pathogenicity in microbial pathogens, it has been suggested that intracellular bacteria or other microbial endosymbionts may also enhance the pathogenicity of Acanthamoeba. Using transmission electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction and simple culturing, our findings did not reveal any apparent evidence of microbial presence intracellularly of a recently recovered clinical isolate of Acanthamoeba. Based on these findings, it is tempting to speculate that the virulence of Acanthamoeba may not be attributed to the pathogenicity of the endosymbiont alone.
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