title: Presence of Balamuthia mandrillaris in hot springs from Mazandaran province, northern Iran.
abstract: Balamuthia mandrillaris is an opportunistic free-living amoeba that has been reported to cause cutaneous lesions and Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis. The biology and environmental distribution of B. mandrillaris is still poorly understood and isolation of this pathogen from the environment is a rare event. Previous studies have reported that the presence of B. mandrillaris in the environment in Iran may be common. However, no clinical cases have been reported so far in this country. In the present study, a survey was conducted in order to evaluate the presence of B. mandrillaris in hot-spring samples of northern Iran. A total of 66 water samples were analysed using morphological and molecular tools. Positive samples by microscopy were confirmed by performing PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene of B. mandrillaris. Sequencing of the positive amplicons was also performed to confirm morphological data. Two of the 66 collected water samples were positive for B. mandrillaris after morphological and molecular identification. Interestingly, both positive hot springs had low pH values and temperatures ranging from 32 °C to 42 °C. Many locals and tourists use both hot springs due to their medicinal properties and thus contact with water bodies containing the organism increases the likelihood of infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the isolation of B. mandrillaris from hot-spring sources related to human activity. Therefore, B. mandrillaris should be considered as a possible causative agent if cases of encephalitis are suspected following immersion in hot springs in addition to Acanthamoeba and Naegleria.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran,Iran.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Latifi
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran,Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niyyati
authors.affiliation: University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands, University of La Laguna,Tenerife,Canary Islands,Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lorenzo-Morales
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology,Faculty of Medicine,Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran,Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haghighi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology,Faculty of Medicine,Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran,Iran.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Seyyed Tabaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology,Faculty of Medicine,Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran,Iran.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lasjerdi
mesh_terms: D059611:Balamuthia mandrillaris / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D045482:Hot Springs / Q000382:microbiology*; D007492:Iran; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Balamuthia mandrillaris; Iran; hot spring