ISOLATION AND GENOTYPING OF ACANTHAMOEBA FROM BEAUTY CENTRES IN ZAGAZIG GOVERNORATE
Magda A. El-Settawy, Ghada M. Fathy, and Elshaymaa I.Mahmoud
Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
There is a bad habit in spread of contact lenses in beauty centres (coiffeur) in Egypt, these lenses were contaminated from dust and local saline used to preserve lenses. In the present study, 120 samples were collected from contact lenses equipment from beauty centres. Examination of the lens cases by direct microscope, culture and PCR, it was found that out of 120 examined cases; Direct microscopic examination detected 15 positive cases for Acanthamoeba, while culture detected 33 positive cases and finally 58 positive cases were detected by PCR. Mitochondrial DNA RFLP PCR analysis of the 58 positive cases of Acanthamoeba by enzyme (Bg II) were used for revealing the following results; There were 32 cases from genotype KALH 7, three KALH 1, seventeen KALH 2, two KA/LH 8, one KA/LH 32, two KA/LH 35 and finally one KA/LH 39. It was concluded that the most predominant strain is KALH 7 which is a corneal strain. This indicates that most isolates from contact lenses equipment in beauty centers are potential pathogenic to eyes. More attention should be paid to avoid using homemade saline and tape water for preservation of contact lenses especially in beauty centers and it is better to avoid wearing lenses from these centers and buying it from medical centers.
December 2017