title: Detection of four adenovirus serotypes within water-isolated strains of Acanthamoeba in the Canary Islands, Spain.
abstract: We surveyed 236 potentially pathogenic Acanthamoeba strains, isolated from water sources in the Canary Islands, for the presence of human adenoviruses (HAdV) using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based typing assay. A total of 34 of these strains were found to be positive for adenovirus belonging to four different HAdV serotypes (HAdV-1, 2, 8, and 37). We found that HAdV-2 was the most frequently encountered serotype amongst the Acanthamoeba strains, and their identification was confirmed by a nested PCR specific for this serotype. We showed that Acanthamoeba genotype T4 was highly associated with serotype HAdV-2, whereas Acanthamoeba genotype T3 was most often associated with adenovirus serotypes related to ocular diseases. Based on these data, we suggest that Acanthamoeba should be considered as a potential reservoir and perhaps even a transmitter of adenoviruses to human and other secondary hosts.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, University of La Laguna, La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain. jmlorenz@ull.es
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lorenzo-Morales
authors.forename: Nieves
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Coronado-Alvarez
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martínez-Carretero
authors.forename: Sutherland K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Maciver
authors.forename: Basilio
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Valladares
mesh_terms: D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000821:virology*; D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D000562:Amebiasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D013030:Spain; D014871:Water Microbiology