The isolation of Balamuthia mandrillaris from environmental sources from Peru

Martín-Navarro, Carmen Ma.; Guerra, Humberto; Maciver, Sutherland K.; Gotuzzo Herencia, José Eduardo; Montalbán-Sandoval, Esmelda; Martínez-Carretero, Enrique; Cabello Vílchez, Alfonso Martín; Valladares, Basilio; López-Arencibia, Atteneri; Lorenzo-Morales, Jacob; Elias-Letts, Rafaela; Reyes-Batlle, María; Piñero, José E.

dc.contributor.author	Cabello Vílchez, Alfonso Martín
dc.contributor.author	Reyes-Batlle, María
dc.contributor.author	Montalbán-Sandoval, Esmelda
dc.contributor.author	Martín-Navarro, Carmen Ma.
dc.contributor.author	López-Arencibia, Atteneri
dc.contributor.author	Elias-Letts, Rafaela
dc.contributor.author	Guerra, Humberto
dc.contributor.author	Gotuzzo Herencia, José Eduardo
dc.contributor.author	Martínez-Carretero, Enrique
dc.contributor.author	Piñero, José E.
dc.contributor.author	Maciver, Sutherland K.
dc.contributor.author	Valladares, Basilio
dc.contributor.author	Lorenzo-Morales, Jacob
dc.date.accessioned	2020-06-10T18:12:13Z
dc.date.available	2020-06-10T18:12:13Z
dc.date.issued	2014
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12866/8053
dc.description.abstract	Balamuthia mandrillaris is an opportunistic free-living amoeba that has been reported to cause skin lesions and the fatal Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis (BAE) in humans and other animals. Currently, around 200 human BAE cases have been reported worldwide, although this number is considered to be underestimated. The highest number of BAE cases has been reported in the American continent, mainly in the southwest of the USA. Peru seems to be another hotspot for BAE with around 55 human cases having been identified, usually involving cutaneous infection, especially lesions in the central face area. The isolation of Balamuthia from environmental sources has been reported on only three prior occasions, twice from Californian soils and once from dust in Iran and so it seems that this amoeba is relatively rarely encountered in samples from the environment. We investigated that possibility of finding the amoebae in soil samples from different regions where clinical cases have been reported in Peru. Twenty-one samples were cultured in non-nutrient agar plates and were checked for the presence of B. mandrillaris-like trophozoites and/or cysts. Those samples that were positive for these amoebae by microscopic criteria were then confirmed by PCR amplification and DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial 16S rDNA gene of B. mandrillaris. We have detected the presence of B. mandrillaris in four samples collected in the regions of Piura (3) and Lima (1) where infection cases have been previously reported. We hypothesize that B. mandrillaris is present in Peru in soil and dust which therefore constitutes a source of the infection for the BAE cases previously reported in this country. Further studies should be carried out in the area to confirm the generality of this finding.	en_US
dc.language.iso	eng
dc.publisher	Springer Verlag
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Parasitology Research
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.es
dc.subject	Amebiasis	en_US
dc.subject	amoeba (life cycle stage)	en_US
dc.subject	Animals	en_US
dc.subject	article	en_US
dc.subject	Balamuthia infection	en_US
dc.subject	Balamuthia mandrillaris	en_US
dc.subject	controlled study	en_US
dc.subject	Diagnosis	en_US
dc.subject	DNA 16S	en_US
dc.subject	DNA sequence	en_US
dc.subject	Emerging pathogen	en_US
dc.subject	Encephalitis	en_US
dc.subject	gene amplification	en_US
dc.subject	human	en_US
dc.subject	Humans	en_US
dc.subject	major clinical study	en_US
dc.subject	nonhuman	en_US
dc.subject	nucleotide sequence	en_US
dc.subject	parasite isolation	en_US
dc.subject	Peru	en_US
dc.subject	priority journal	en_US
dc.subject	RNA, Protozoan	en_US
dc.subject	RNA, Ribosomal, 16S	en_US
dc.subject	Sequence Analysis, DNA	en_US
dc.subject	Skin	en_US
dc.subject	skin defect	en_US
dc.subject	skin infection	en_US
dc.subject	soil	en_US
dc.subject	Soil	en_US
dc.subject	Therapy	en_US
dc.subject	trophozoite	en_US
dc.title	The isolation of Balamuthia mandrillaris from environmental sources from Peru	en_US
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-014-3900-2
dc.subject.ocde	https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#3.03.07
dc.relation.issn	1432-1955