Abstract
BackgroundThe repertoire of free-living protozoa in contact lens solutions is poorly known despite the fact that such protozoa may act as direct pathogens and may harbor intra-cellular pathogens.MethodsBetween 2009 and 2014, the contact lens solutions collected from patients presenting at our Ophthalmology Department for clinically suspected keratitis, were cultured on non-nutrient agar examined by microscope for the presence of free-living protozoa. All protozoa were identified by 18S rRNA gene sequencing.ResultsA total of 20 of 233 (8.6 %) contact lens solution specimens collected from 16 patients were cultured. Acanthamoeba amoeba in 16 solutions (80 %) collected from 12 patients and Colpoda steini, Cercozoa sp., Protostelium sp. and a eukaryotic more closely related to Vermamoeba sp., were each isolated in one solution. Cercozoa sp., Colpoda sp., Protostelium sp. and Vermamoeba sp. are reported for the first time as contaminating contact lens solutions.ConclusionThe repertoire of protozoa in contact lens solutions is larger than previously known.
Highlights
The repertoire of free-living protozoa in contact lens solutions is poorly known despite the fact that such protozoa may act as direct pathogens and may harbor intra-cellular pathogens
We prospectively search for free-living unicellular protozoa in Contact lens (CL) solutions collected from patients with suspected keratitis, in an effort to broaden the repertoire of free-living protozoa as potential cornea pathogens
Confident identification was obtained at the genus level only. These identifications include Acanthamoeba in 16 (80 %) solution specimens collected from 12 different patients, Colpoda steini in specimen n°14, Cercozoa sp. in specimen n°12, Protostelium sp. in specimen n°15, and an identical 99 % sequence similarity with both Hartmanella and Vermamoeba genus in specimen 13
Summary
The repertoire of free-living protozoa in contact lens solutions is poorly known despite the fact that such protozoa may act as direct pathogens and may harbor intra-cellular pathogens. Contact lens (CL) wearers are at risk of developing infectious keratitis [1]. It has been suspected that CL solution could be the source of amoeba in this situation [3]. Several studies have reported detecting amoeba in CL solutions [2]. Only amoeba of the genus Acanthamoeba have been documented in CL solutions [1, 4, 5]. We prospectively search for free-living unicellular protozoa in CL solutions collected from patients with suspected keratitis, in an effort to broaden the repertoire of free-living protozoa as potential cornea pathogens
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