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Updated: Nov 12, 2025

Discovery of New Intracellular Pathogens by Amoebal Coculture and Amoebal Enrichment Approaches
Published on: October 27, 2013
Extracellular amoebal-vesicles: potential transmission vehicles for respiratory viruses
Rafik Dey1,2, Melanie A Folkins3, Nicholas J Ashbolt4,3,5
1School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. rafik@ualberta.ca.
Abstract:
Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of acute respiratory tract infections in children and immunocompromised adults worldwide. Here we report that amoebae-release respirable-sized vesicles containing high concentrations of infectious RSV that persisted for the duration of the experiment. Given the ubiquity of amoebae in moist environments, our results suggest that extracellular amoebal-vesicles could contribute to the environmental persistence of respiratory viruses, including potential resistance to disinfection processes and thereby offering novel pathways for viral dissemination and transmission.
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