Abstract
Balamuthia mandrillaris is a free living, opportunistic amoeba was first discovered in 1986 in a mandrill baboon at the Wild Animal Park in California suffered from a neurological disease, later it was associated with many human CNS fatal infection and skin infection all over the world, and it considered to be ubiquitous. We investigate the presence of B. mandrillaris in Shatt Al-Arab, the main river in Basrah south of Iraq, the amoeba was identified morphologically and genetically by PCR. Trophozoite and cyst were observed in culture, the trophozoite with finger like pseudopodia that subdivided into small arms. Rounded cyst of about 13-30 µm surrounded by outer thin wrinkled layer gave the shape of a rose flower. Our finding was the first in Iraq, Balamuthia mandrillaris represent a health hazard in such main river in Basrah.
Highlights
Balamuthia mandrillaris is an opportunistic freeliving amoebae that causes serious cutaneous infections and fatal encephalitis in human (Siddiqui & Khan, 2015) and may invade the skin causing extensive skin lesions (Martinez and Visvesvara, 1997)
The trophozoite of B. mandrillaris measuring 30-65 μm, it has a finger-like projections, transparent cytoplasm and a single large nucleus, it moved forward very fast on agar surface by the finger like pseudopodia, the most important identification feature of the trophozoites is the subdivided pseudopodia into small arms, B. mandrillaris trophozoite showed an ability to produce pseudopodia from any part of the amoebic body, Fig. (2, 3 and 4)
Balamuthia mandrillaris is thought to be ubiquitous in the environment (MMWR, 2010)
Summary
Balamuthia mandrillaris is an opportunistic freeliving amoebae that causes serious cutaneous infections and fatal encephalitis in human (Siddiqui & Khan, 2015) and may invade the skin causing extensive skin lesions (Martinez and Visvesvara, 1997). B. mandrillaris was first isolated in 1986, from the brain tissue of a mandrill baboon (Papio sphinx) at the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park in California that died after a neurological disease (Visvesvara et al, 1990). Later it was associated with fatal human infections involving the CNS (Anzil et al, 1991). The trophozoite is pleomorphic, uninucleated and binucleated forms are occasionally seen (Lokhande et al, 2015). It characterized by the irregular branching pattern (Visvesvara et al, 1993). Balamuthia cyst possessing three walls that seems to be proteinaceous containing mostly cysteine-rich proteins, no polysaccharides or carbohydrate moieties were detected in the cyst wall; mesocyst seems to contain cellular debris such as lipid granules (Klieščiková, 2013)
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