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JRSM Open 2021 May 13;12(5):20542704211009354. Epub 2021 May 13.

Department of Medicine, Mother Hospital Pvt Ltd., Thrissur, India.

Patient presenting with fever, acute onset seizure and neck stiffness on examination; deteriorating despite initiation of early treatment for meningitis. Read More

Animals (Basel) 2021 Apr 1;11(4). Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia and Servei de Diagnòstic Patològic en Peixos, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.

Parasitic and amphizoic amoebae are ubiquitous and can affect a huge variety of hosts, from invertebrates to humans, and fish are not an exception. Most of the relationships between amoebae and fish are based on four different types: ectocommensals, ectoparasites, endocommensals and endoparasites, although the lines between them are not always clear. As ectocommensals, they are located specially on the gills and particularly the amphizoic is the most relevant species, being a real pathogenic parasite in farmed salmon. Read More

J Water Health 2021 Apr;19(2):278-287

University of Cologne, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Cologne, Germany and Department of Basic and Clinical Sciences, University of Nicosia Medical School, Anatomy Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus E-mail:

Free-living amoebae (FLA) thrive in diverse environmental conditions. The present study aimed to define the FLA distribution from the Caspian Sea as well as from hospital ward dust from Guilan, Iran. Seawater (20) and hospital ward dust samples (100) were collected from May to June 2018. Read More

Cureus 2021 Mar 4;13(3):e13698. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pontifica Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, ECU.

Meningoencephalitis caused by free-living amoebas (FLA) has a high mortality rate, and most treatments are ineffective. FLA includes Naegleria, Fowleri, Acanthamoeba, and Balamuthia mandrillaris (M). We explore the use of miltefosine in the treatment of one of these infections. Read More

Pathogens 2021 Mar 24;10(4). Epub 2021 Mar 24.

Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, and Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Jinju 52727, Korea.

is a free-living amoeba that is ubiquitous in diverse natural environments. It causes a fatal brain infection in humans known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Despite the medical importance of the parasitic disease, there is a great lack of knowledge about the biology and pathogenicity of . Read More

PLoS One 2021 24;16(3):e0241738. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.

Naegleria fowleri is a pathogenic, thermophilic, free-living amoeba which causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Penetrating the olfactory mucosa, the brain-eating amoeba travels along the olfactory nerves, burrowing through the cribriform plate to its destination: the brain's frontal lobes. The amoeba thrives in warm, freshwater environments, with peak infection rates in the summer months and has a mortality rate of approximately 97%. Read More

Bioorg Chem 2021 May 26;110:104784. Epub 2021 Feb 26.

Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez, S/N, La Laguna, Tenerife, 38203 Islas Canarias, Spain; Departamento de Obstetricia, Ginecología, Pediatría, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Toxicología, Medicina Legal y Forense y Parasitología, Universidad De La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, 38203 Islas Canarias, Spain; Red de Investigación Colaborativa en Enfermedades Tropicales (RICET), Spain. Electronic address:

Primary Amoebic Encephalitis due to Naegleria fowleri species is a fatal infection of the Central Nervous System mostly affecting children and young adults. Infections often occur after performance of risk activities in aquatic habitats such as swimming and splashing. PAḾs therapy remain a key issue to be solved which needs an urgent development. Read More

Clin Transl Sci 2021 Mar 1. Epub 2021 Mar 1.

BioCIS, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Châtenay-Malabry, France.

Free-living amoebae (FLAs) are protozoa developing autonomously in diverse natural or artificial environments. The FLAs Acanthamoeba spp., Balamuthia mandrillaris, and Naegleria fowleri represent a risk for human health as they can become pathogenic and cause severe cerebral infections, named granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE), Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis (BAE), and primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), respectively. Read More

Pathogens 2021 Feb 1;10(2). Epub 2021 Feb 1.

Center of Research Excellence on Therapeutic Proteins and Antibody Engineering, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.

causes deadly primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in humans. Humans obtain the infection by inhaling water or dust contaminated with amebae into the nostrils, wherefrom the pathogen migrates via the olfactory nerve to cause brain inflammation and necrosis. Current PAM treatment is ineffective and toxic. Read More

Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther 2021 Mar 11:1-8. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.

: is responsible for primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) which has a fatality rate of >97%. Because of the rarity of the disease, pharmaceutical companies do not pursue new drug discovery for PAM. Yet, it is possible that the infection is underreported and finding a better drug would have an impact on people suffering from this deadly infection. Read More

J Trop Pediatr 2021 01;67(1)

Department of Pediatrics, Mersin University School of Medicine, Mersin 33120, Turkey.

Naegleria fowleriis a thermophilic free-living ameba that is found in warm, fresh water and causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in humans with high mortality rate. Here we report a case of newborn admitted with destructive clinical features of PAM after having bath with unchlorinated well water on a summer day. Read More

Emerg Infect Dis 2021 01;27(1):271-274

Naegleria fowleri is a free-living ameba that causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rare but usually fatal disease. We analyzed trends in recreational water exposures associated with PAM cases reported during 1978-2018 in the United States. Although PAM incidence remained stable, the geographic range of exposure locations expanded northward. Read More

Eur J Protistol 2021 Feb 28;77:125760. Epub 2020 Nov 28.

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada; Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Electronic address:

Protistan parasites have an undisputed global health impact. However, outside of a few key exceptions, e.g. Read More

J Water Health 2020 Dec;18(6):1139-1145

Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Fundamental and Industrial Microbiology Division, Istanbul University, 34134 Vezneciler-Istanbul, Turkey E-mail:

Free-living amoebae (FLA) are ubiquitous protozoa commonly found in water and soil environments. FLA belonging to various genera, including Acanthamoeba, Balamuthia, Naegleria, and Vermamoeba, can cause opportunistic and non-opportunistic infections in humans and animals such as keratitis or meningoencephalitis. In addition, some of them serve as hosts for a large number of pathogenic bacteria, yeasts, and viruses. Read More

FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2020 12;97(1)

Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.

Naegleria fowleri is a free-living protozoan that resides in soil and freshwater. Human intranasal amoebae exposure through water or potentially dust particles can culminate in primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, which generally causes death. While many questions remain regarding pathogenesis, the microbial ecology of N. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Jan 22;753:141833. Epub 2020 Aug 22.

Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain / Departamento de Obstetricia y Ginecología, Pediatría, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Toxicología, Medicina Legal y Forense y Parasitología. Universidad De La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, 38203 Islas Canarias, Spain; Red de Investigación Colaborativa en Enfermedades Tropicales (RICET), Spain.

The use of freshwater in agricultural systems represents a high percentage of total water consumption worldwide. Therefore, alternative sources of water for irrigation will need to be developed, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas, in order to meet the growing demand for food in the future. The use of recycled wastewater (RWW), brackish water (BW) or desalinated brackish water (DBW) are among the different non-conventional water resources proposed. Read More

ACS Chem Neurosci 2020 11 29;11(22):3697-3700. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.

Of the single-celled eukaryotic microbes, , , and spp. are known to cause fatal encephalitis in humans. Being eukaryotes, these cells have been used as a model for studying and understanding complex cellular processes in humans like cell motility, phagocytosis, and metabolism. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020 30;10:581066. Epub 2020 Sep 30.

Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.

Pore-forming proteins (PFPs) are a group of functionally versatile molecules distributed in all domains of life, and several microbial pathogens notably use members of this class of proteins as cytotoxic effectors. Among pathogenic protists, , and display a range of pore-forming toxins belonging to the Saposin-Like Proteins (Saplip) family: Amoebapores and Naegleriapores. Following the genome sequencing of , we identified a gene family of 12 predicted saposin-like proteins (TvSaplips): this work focuses on investigating the potential role of TvSaplips as cytopathogenetic effectors. Read More

Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 2020 12 7;14:126-135. Epub 2020 Oct 7.

Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, BIOCEV, Vestec, Czech Republic. Electronic address:

Copper is a trace metal that is necessary for all organisms but toxic when present in excess. Different mechanisms to avoid copper toxicity have been reported to date in pathogenic organisms such as Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. However, little if anything is known about pathogenic protozoans despite their importance in human and veterinary medicine. Read More

Iran J Parasitol 2020 Jul-Sep;15(3):393-402

Department of Social Sciences, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.

Background: Free-living amoeba (FLA) are widely distributed in different environmental sources. The most genera of the amoeba are , and The most common consequences of the infections in immune-deficient and immuno-competent persons are amoebic encephalitis and keratitis. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of spp. Read More

Sci Rep 2020 10 20;10(1):17731. Epub 2020 Oct 20.

Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias (IUETSPC), Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Avda. Astrofísico F. Sánchez, s/n, 38203, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.

Primary amoebic encephalitis (PAM) is a lethal disease caused by the opportunistic pathogen, Naegleria fowleri. This amoebic species is able to live freely in warm aquatic habitats and to infect children and young adults when they perform risk activities in these water bodies such as swimming or splashing. Besides the need to increase awareness of PAM which will allow an early diagnosis, the development of fully effective therapeutic agents is needed. Read More

Pathogens 2020 Oct 7;9(10). Epub 2020 Oct 7.

Laboratorio de Microbiología Ambiental, Grupo CyMA, UIICSE, FES Iztacala, UNAM. Av. De Los Barrios 1, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla de Baz 54090, Estado de Mexico, Mexico.

Members of the genus are free-living amoebae that are widely distributed in water and soil environments. Moreover, is a pathogenic amoeba species that causes a fatal disease in the central nervous system known as primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in humans. Since most reported infections due to are reported in recreational waters worldwide, this study was aimed to describe the presence of these amoebic genus in Mexicali Valley irrigation channels of recreational use. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2020 09 24;14(9):e0008353. Epub 2020 Sep 24.

Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America.

Diseases caused by pathogenic free-living amoebae include primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (Naegleria fowleri), granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (Acanthamoeba spp.), Acanthamoeba keratitis, and Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis (Balamuthia mandrillaris). Each of these are difficult to treat and have high morbidity and mortality rates due to lack of effective therapeutics. Read More

N Engl J Med 2020 Sep;383(11):1057

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA

ACS Chem Neurosci 2020 09 1;11(18):2786-2788. Epub 2020 Sep 1.

Herein, we propose the use of novel adsorbents, namely micelle clay complexes comprising the clay montmorillonite, coupled with activated carbon for effective eradication of neuropathogenic microbes such as SARS-CoV-2 and from water supplies for ablution/nasal irrigation. These can be incorporated easily to water collection devices, i.e. Read More

Exp Parasitol 2020 Nov 28;218:107979. Epub 2020 Aug 28.

Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, 26666, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address:

Balamuthia mandrillaris and Naegleria fowleri are free-living amoebae that can cause life-threatening infections involving the central nervous system. The high mortality rates of these infections demonstrate an urgent need for novel treatment options against the amoebae. Considering that indole and thiazole compounds possess wide range of antiparasitic properties, novel bisindole and thiazole derivatives were synthesized and evaluated against the amoebae. Read More

Pathogens 2020 Aug 22;9(9). Epub 2020 Aug 22.

Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Free-living amoeba causes a rapidly fatal infection primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in children. The drug of choice in treating PAM is amphotericin B, but very few patients treated with amphotericin B have survived PAM. Therefore, development of efficient drugs is a critical unmet need. Read More

Case Rep Infect Dis 2020 24;2020:4925819. Epub 2020 Jul 24.

Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Stadium Road, Karachi, Pakistan.

is a highly infective free-living amoeba usually isolated from soil and fresh water and is primarily found to infect the central nervous system (CNS) resulting in primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). PAM as a cause of meningitis is often overlooked for other, more common causes of meningitis. Despite all the advances in antimicrobial therapy and supportive care systems, the mortality rate of this rare infection remains above 95% with the bulk of the cases being found in developed countries. Read More

Pathogens 2020 Aug 1;9(8). Epub 2020 Aug 1.

Departamento de Parasitología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Montes de Oca 11501, Costa Rica.

During the first trimester of 2020, the Ministry of Health of Costa Rica reported the first three cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). In two cases, laboratory personnel of the hospitals preliminarily identified amoeboid forms in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. For the molecular confirmation of species, CSF samples were sent to our laboratory. Read More

Future Microbiol 2020 07 27;15:919-936. Epub 2020 Jul 27.

Department of Infectomics & Molecular Pathogenesis, Center for Research & Advanced Studies of The National Polytechnic Institute, Av. IPN 2508, Mexico City 07360, Mexico.

Currently, there is growing interest in the identification and purification of microbial lectins due to their involvement in the pathogenicity mechanisms of pathogens, such as and free-living amoebae. The Gal/GalNAc lectin from participates in adhesion, cytotoxicity and regulation of immune responses. Furthermore, mannose- and galactose-binding protein have been described in and , respectively and they also contribute to host damage. Read More