Efficiency for recovering Encephalitozoon intestinalis spores from waters by centrifugation and immunofluorescence microscopy.

Abstract

Microsporidia are obligate intracellular protozoal parasites that infect a wide range of vertebrae and invertebrate hosts include humans [13]. Spores are the infective stage and are common in the environment [13]. Microsporidia has been recognized as an emerging opportunistic pathogen of humans [10] and has been put on the Drinking Water Contaminant List and Occurrence Priorities List of The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Surface waters used for drinking water supply are a potential source of spores contamination [8] and waterborne transmission is possible [5]. Encephalitozoon intestinalis, one of the species that infect both humans and animals, had been founded in tertiary effluent, surface water and ground water [5] and irrigation water [11]. At temperatures from 10 to 30C, E. intestinalis spores have the potential to remain infective in the environment long enough to become widely dispersed [9]. Detection of waterborne spores is essential for evaluation of the prevalence of microsporidia in waters and the risk of waterborne transmission to humans. Unfortunately, a standard method is currently not available and relatively simple methods are limited for detection of microsporidian spores from water. The objective of this investigation was to determine the recovery rates of E. intestinalis spores from spiked water samples by centrifugations and fluorescence microscopy.