title: Acanthamoeba belonging to T3, T4, and T11: genotypes isolated from air-conditioning units in Santiago, Chile.
abstract: Free-living amoebae (FLA) of the genus Acanthamoeba are widely distributed in the environment, in the air, soil, and water, and have also been isolated from air-conditioning units. The objective of this work was to investigate the presence of this genus of FLA in the air-conditioning equipment at the Institute of Public Health of Chile in Santiago, Chile. Water and air samples were collected from air-conditioning systems and were checked for the presence of Acanthamoeba spp. Positive samples were further classified at the genotype level after sequencing the highly variable diagnostic fragment 3 (DF3) region of the 18S rRNA gene. This is the first report of the T3, T4, and T11 genotypes of Acanthamoeba in air-conditioning units from Chile. Overall, the widespread distribution of potentially pathogenic Acanthamoeba strains in the studied source demands more awareness within the public and health professionals in Chile as this pathogen is emerging as a risk for human health worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Parasitology, Institute of Public Health of Chile, Marathon, Ñuñoa 1000, Santiago, Chile. berbeli.astorga@gmail.com
authors.forename: Berbeli
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Astorga
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lorenzo-Morales
authors.forename: Carmen M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Martín-Navarro
authors.forename: Verónica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Alarcón
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Ana C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Navarrete
authors.forename: José E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Piñero
authors.forename: Basilio
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Valladares
mesh_terms: D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000389:Air Conditioning; D002677:Chile; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D005838:Genotype; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S