Genotyping of Acanthamoeba Isolated from Hospital Environments and Thermal Water of Recreational Baths in Markazi Province, Iran

Due to the opportunism character of Acanthamoeba, the presence of this parasite in the thermal water of recreational baths and hospital environments can be a risk to the health of staff, patients and others. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of potentially pathogenic Acanthamoeba genotypes isolated from the hospital environment and the thermal water of recreational baths in Markazi Province, central Iran.

Overall, 180 samples including thermal water from recreational baths in Mahallat City and dust, soil and water from different hospitals of Arak, Farahan and Komijan cities, central Iran were collected. The presence of Acanthamoeba was investigated using microscopic examination and molecular methods. The PCR and sequencing was performed based on a specific 18S fragment of ribosomal DNA.

Based on the microscopic survey, totally 134 positive samples were detected including 35% in thermal water samples and 44.7% in hospital samples. In molecular analysis, 53.5% of the samples were identified as Acanthamoeba and 46.7% as Protacanthamoeba bohemica. The genotypes were detected as T4 (33.3%), T2 (10%), T11 (6.7%), and T5 (3.3%).

The T4 was the most common genotype found in hospitals sampling sites while the T2 genotype and P. bohemica were detected in thermal water sampling sites.