AUTHOR=Arberas-Jiménez Iñigo , Rodríguez-Expósito Rubén L. , Sifaoui Ines , Chao-Pellicer Javier , Sancho Luis , Urruticoechea Andoni , Piñero José E. , Lorenzo-Morales Jacob 

TITLE=Influence of salt and temperature in the growth of pathogenic free-living amoebae

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1356452

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1356452

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Free-living amoebae are an extensive group of protistans that can be found in a wide variety of environments. Among them, the <italic>Acanthamoeba</italic> genus and <italic>Naegleria fowleri</italic> stand out as two of the most pathogenic amoebae and with a higher number of reported cases. <italic>N. fowleri</italic> is mainly found in warm freshwater water bodies whereas amoebae of the <italic>Acanthamoeba</italic> genus are broadly distributed through natural and anthropogenic environments. In this regard, the management and the control of the amoebic populations in swimming pools has become a major public health challenge for institutions.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>The aim of this work was to evaluate the growth pattern of trophozoites of <italic>A. griffini</italic> and <italic>N. fowleri</italic> at different temperatures and salt concentrations.</p></sec><sec><title>Results and discussion</title><p>Our results showed that <italic>A. griffini</italic> resisted a higher concentration of salt than <italic>N. fowleri</italic>. Moreover, no trophozoites could withstand the salt levels of the sea in <italic>in vitro</italic> conditions. This work supports the contention that salinity could represent an important and useful tool for the control of the most pathogenic amoebic populations in recreational water bodies.</p></sec>