Abstract
Pathogenic strains of Acanthamoeba genus are the causative agents of fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and a serious sight-threatening infection of the eye known as Acanthamoeba keratitis. In a previous study, Acanthamoeba strains were isolated from nasal swabs collected from healthy individuals in Peru. In the present study, the pathogenic potential of the isolated strains was established based on temperature and osmotolerance assays as well as the secretion rate of extracellular proteases. Based on these experiments, four strains that showed the highest pathogenic potential were selected for sensitivity assays against two molecules (voriconazole and chlorhexidine) which are currently used for the treatment of Acanthamoeba infections. After performing sensitivity and activity assays, it was found that both drugs were active against the tested strains. However, voriconazole showed higher activity against the studied strains compared to chlorhexidine. Therefore, voriconazole should be established as a first-line treatment against Acanthamoeba infections at least in the studied region of Peru.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the grants RICET (project no. RD12/0018/0012of the programme of Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa, FIS), Spanish Ministry of Health, Madrid, Spain and the Project FIS PI10/01298 “Protozoosis emergentes por amebas de vida libre: aislamiento y caracterización molecular, identificación de cepas transportadoras de otros agentes patógenos y búsqueda de quimioterapias efectivas” from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. IS was funded by an alternating Scholarship from the University of Carthage, Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. ALA was funded by a grant “Ayudas del Programa de Formación de Personal Investigador, para la realización de Tesis Doctorales” from the Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información from the Canary Islands Government. CMMN was supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Fundación Canaria Manuel Morales, La Palma, Canary Islands. JLM was supported by the Ramón y Cajal Subprogramme from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competivity RYC-2011-08863.
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Cabello-Vílchez, A.M., Martín-Navarro, C.M., López-Arencibia, A. et al. Voriconazole as a first-line treatment against potentially pathogenic Acanthamoeba strains from Peru. Parasitol Res 113, 755–759 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3705-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3705-8