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Scientific Reports Jun 2024Natural products play a significant role in providing the current demand as antiparasitic agents, which offer an attractive approach for the discovery of novel drugs....
Natural products play a significant role in providing the current demand as antiparasitic agents, which offer an attractive approach for the discovery of novel drugs. The present study aimed to evaluate in vitro the potential impact of seaweed Padina pavonica (P. pavonica) extract in combating Acanthamoeba castellanii (A. castellanii). The phytochemical constituents of the extract were characterized by Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Six concentrations of the algal extract were used to evaluate its antiprotozoal activity at various incubation periods. Our results showed that the extract has significant inhibition against trophozoites and cysts viability, with complete inhibition at the high concentrations. The IC of P. pavonica extract was 4.56 and 4.89 µg/mL for trophozoites and cysts, respectively, at 24 h. Morphological alterations of A. castellanii trophozoites/cysts treated with the extract were assessed using inverted and scanning electron microscopes and showed severe damage features upon treatment with the extract at different concentrations. Molecular Docking of extracted compounds against Acanthamoeba cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (AcCYP51) was performed using Autodock vina1.5.6. A pharmacokinetic study using SwissADME was also conducted to investigate the potentiality of the identified bioactive compounds from Padina extract to be orally active drug candidates. In conclusion, this study highlights the in vitro amoebicidal activity of P. pavonica extract against A. castellanii adults and cysts and suggests potential AcCYP51 inhibition.
Topics: Acanthamoeba castellanii; Molecular Docking Simulation; Acanthamoeba Keratitis; Plant Extracts; Antiprotozoal Agents; Trophozoites; Animals; Humans
PubMed: 38871751
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63691-8 -
Cureus May 2024() infections typically present with fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. This case report on enteritis documents atypical clinical, radiological, and endoscopic...
() infections typically present with fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. This case report on enteritis documents atypical clinical, radiological, and endoscopic findings raising diagnostic challenges. A 31-year-old male in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) presented with severe abdominal pain, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and no fever. Initial diagnosis included amebiasis and other gastroenteritis infections. Despite treatment with ciprofloxacin and metronidazole, the patient's condition did not improve, and he kept having intractable abdominal pain and vomiting. Subsequent investigations, including abdominal ultrasound and esophagogastroduodenoscopy, revealed extensive and rapidly progressive intestinal inflammation with wall thickening and ascites. Stool culture eventually identified a multidrug-resistant strain of , sensitive only to ceftriaxone. Treatment with ceftriaxone and continuous infusion of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) led to significant improvement. The absence of fever in the context of bloody diarrhea, and the rapid development of ascites not improving with first-line treatment of gastroenteritis, led to the search for other diagnoses such as inflammatory bowel syndromes or tuberculosis. The presentation of diffuse intestinal wall thickening with intractable vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and progressively increasing ascites is not frequently encountered with . The case also underscores the growing concern of antibiotic-resistant strains. The patient's response to targeted antibiotic therapy emphasizes the importance of accurate microbial identification and susceptibility testing in managing infectious diseases. This case report illustrates an atypical presentation of enteritis with progressively increasing ascites and increased intestinal wall thickening. The uncommon complicated clinical picture led to challenges in diagnosis and management. It emphasizes the need for high clinical suspicion and comprehensive diagnostic approaches in atypical cases of common infections, especially in the context of increasing antibiotic resistance.
PubMed: 38868285
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.60217 -
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2024Pathogenic and free-living are widely distributed in the environment and have been reported to cause keratitis and universally fatal encephalitis. Primary cutaneous...
Pathogenic and free-living are widely distributed in the environment and have been reported to cause keratitis and universally fatal encephalitis. Primary cutaneous acanthamoebiasis caused by is exceedingly rare and presents as isolated necrotic cutaneous lesions without involvement of the cornea or central nervous system. Cutaneous acanthamoebiasis often occurs in immunocompromised patients and is likely overlooked or even misdiagnosed only by cutaneous biopsy tissue histopathological analysis. Here, we report a HIV-infected 63-year-old female with oral leukoplakia for 4 months and scattered large skin ulcers all over the body for 2 months. The cause of the cutaneous lesions was unclear through cutaneous specimens histopathological analysis, and subsequently were detected by metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), which may be the cause of cutaneous lesions. Based on the mNGS results, a pathologist subsequently reviewed the previous pathological slides and found trophozoites of so that the cause was identified, and the skin ulcers improved significantly after treatment with multi-drug combination therapy. is also a host of pathogenic microorganisms. The presence of endosymbionts enhances the pathogenicity of , and no other pathogens were reported in this case. mNGS is helpful for rapidly diagnosing the etiology of rare skin diseases and can indicate the presence or absence of commensal microorganisms.
Topics: Humans; Female; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Amebiasis; Metagenomics; Middle Aged; Acanthamoeba; HIV Infections; Skin; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 38863830
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1356095 -
Infection & Chemotherapy May 2024Enterocolitis and gastroenteritis remain major health problems, particularly in children living in developing countries. Intestinal protozoa, such as , and are...
BACKGROUND
Enterocolitis and gastroenteritis remain major health problems, particularly in children living in developing countries. Intestinal protozoa, such as , and are frequently associated with these conditions. Amebic colitis can cause serious complications, including fulminant necrotizing colitis, toxic megacolon, extraintestinal amebiasis, and stunting in children. The diagnosis of amoebiasis is challenging, relying on microscopic examination, which cannot distinguish from the nonpathogenic and Therefore, this study aimed to identify intestinal parasites, particularly , their prevalence, and the clinical characteristics of patients admitted for enterocolitis and gastroenteritis at a tertiary-referral hospital.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A cross-sectional, retrospective study was conducted at a national, tertiary-referral government hospital, in Jakarta. Of the 111 retrieved medical records from hospitalized patients with enterocolitis and gastroenteritis, 54 (48.6%) fecal samples were still available in the laboratory storage and referred to the parasitology laboratory. All fecal samples underwent the following tests: 1) direct stool examination, after staining with 1% Lugol's solution, and using the water-ether concentration method; 2) modified acid-fast staining for coccidian parasites; 3) Jones' culture medium to detect ; 4) copro-antigen assay to detect and and 5) a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to identify . Clinical and demographic data were obtained from the medical records.
RESULTS
Largely, patients (44.1%) were from the cohort of young children ≤5 years old, followed by adults aged 19-60 years old (24.3%). Both cohorts exhibited polyparasitism. Intestinal parasites were detected in 17 out of the 54 samples (31.4%). These included 6 (11.1%), 2 (3.7%),5 (9.2%), 3 (5.5%), 2 (3.7%), and 1 (1.8%) samples that were positive for , , , , and respectively. PCR analysis revealed that 10 samples were positive for infection, eight of which originated from pediatric patients.
CONCLUSION
At a national tertiary-referral hospital in Indonesia, infection was most prevalent among pediatric patients with enterocolitis. and were the two main species identified by PCR. Therefore, PCR assays and fecal occult-blood tests are recommended in cases of enterocolitis and gastroenteritis.
PubMed: 38859717
DOI: 10.3947/ic.2023.0099 -
Veterinary Parasitology Jul 2024Blastocystis inhabits the digestive tracts of a diverse range of hosts. Transmission patterns, including host specificity, and the clinical and public health...
Blastocystis inhabits the digestive tracts of a diverse range of hosts. Transmission patterns, including host specificity, and the clinical and public health significance of Blastocystis in humans remain poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the distribution and genetic diversity of Blastocystis in herbivorous and carnivorous reptiles in Eastern Thailand. A total of 501 faecal samples were collected from 363 iguanas, 79 bearded dragons, 50 tortoises, and nine snakes in an animal breeding farm in Chonburi Province, Eastern Thailand. Detection and differentiation of Blastocystis was based on amplification, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis of specific small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA genes from faecal DNA extracted from the samples. Altogether 101/501 samples (20 %) were polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing-positive for Blastocystis, 90 (89 %) of which were from iguanas; the remaining positive samples were from African spurred tortoise (n=6), Bearded dragon (n=3), Leopard tortoise (n=1), and Red-footed tortoise (n=1). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that most of the Blastocystis sequences from iguanas were largely similar, and they were distinct from those of the tortoises. Subtype 17 was found in the three bearded dragons and likely reflected Blastocystis from prey animals. This is the largest survey of Blastocystis in reptiles to date. Remarkable differences in Blastocystis colonization rates and genetic diversity were observed between iguanas and other reptile orders, and what was considered Blastocystis colonization was only observed in herbivorous reptiles.
Topics: Animals; Blastocystis; Thailand; Genetic Variation; Blastocystis Infections; Host Specificity; Phylogeny; Feces; Reptiles; Turtles; Lizards; Snakes
PubMed: 38838380
DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2024.110218 -
Parasites & Vectors May 2024Proteases produced by Acanthamoeba spp. play an important role in their virulence and may be the key to understanding Acanthamoeba pathogenesis; thus, increasing...
Characterization of novel extracellular proteases produced by Acanthamoeba castellanii after contact with human corneal epithelial cells and their relevance to pathogenesis.
BACKGROUND
Proteases produced by Acanthamoeba spp. play an important role in their virulence and may be the key to understanding Acanthamoeba pathogenesis; thus, increasing attention has been directed towards these proteins. The present study aimed to investigate the lytic factors produced by Acanthamoeba castellanii during the first hours of in vitro co-culture with human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs).
METHODS
We used one old and one recent Acanthamoeba isolate, both from patients with severe keratitis, and subsets of these strains with enhanced pathogenic potential induced by sequential passaging over HCEC monolayers. The proteolytic profiles of all strains and substrains were examined using 1D in-gel zymography.
RESULTS
We observed the activity of additional proteases (ranging from 33 to 50 kDa) during the early interaction phase between amoebae and HCECs, which were only expressed for a short time. Based on their susceptibilities to protease inhibitors, these proteases were characterized as serine proteases. Protease activities showed a sharp decline after 4 h of co-incubation. Interestingly, the expression of Acanthamoeba mannose-binding protein did not differ between amoebae in monoculture and those in co-culture. Moreover, we observed the activation of matrix metalloproteinases in HCECs after contact with Acanthamoeba.
CONCLUSIONS
This study revealed the involvement of two novel serine proteases in Acanthamoeba pathogenesis and suggests a pivotal role of serine proteases during Acanthamoeba-host cell interaction, contributing to cell adhesion and lysis.
Topics: Humans; Acanthamoeba castellanii; Epithelial Cells; Coculture Techniques; Epithelium, Corneal; Peptide Hydrolases; Acanthamoeba Keratitis; Serine Proteases; Protozoan Proteins; Virulence
PubMed: 38812022
DOI: 10.1186/s13071-024-06304-7 -
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2024is a ubiquitous protozoon in the intestinal tract of human and many animals. Microscopic examination is the main method of clinical diagnosis for , which is prone to...
is a ubiquitous protozoon in the intestinal tract of human and many animals. Microscopic examination is the main method of clinical diagnosis for , which is prone to false negative. A simple and rapid diagnosis of infection is an important step to prevent and control blastocystosis. Here, a recombinase polymerase amplification-lateral flow dipstick (RPA-LFD) assay was developed for rapid visual detection of DNA amplification could be performed within 18 min at 37°C. The minimum DNA detection limit was 1 pg/μL, and there was no cross-reactivity with 12 other non-target pathogens, which was consistent with the sensitivity of conventional PCR (cPCR). Furthermore, 56 fecal samples from the Third Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University were tested using RPA and cPCR methods respectively, and the results were completely consistent. The results show that RPA-LFD method has high accuracy and visual results, which provides a new choice for the differential diagnosis and rapid field detection of
Topics: Blastocystis; Humans; Blastocystis Infections; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; Sensitivity and Specificity; Feces; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; DNA, Protozoan; Recombinases
PubMed: 38808061
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1391943 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Apr 2024The oral cavity is a habitat to a diverse range of organisms that make up an essential element of the human microbiota. There are up to 1000 species of micro-organisms... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
The oral cavity is a habitat to a diverse range of organisms that make up an essential element of the human microbiota. There are up to 1000 species of micro-organisms capable of colonizing the mouth. Thirty percent of them are uncultivable. The genus Entamoeba includes several species, out of which at least seven of them are able to inhabit the human body (, , , , , , ). It was shown that only is able to colonize the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association and prevalence of in periodontal disease using two electronic database search engines. In order to have a broader view of the subject, a comprehensive manual search was conducted between 15th February 2023 and 1 April 2023 on these content aggregators and the initial search resulted in 277 articles using the keywords "", "periodontitis", "", "periodontal disease", "prevalence", and "incidence", in different combinations. The results showed that 755 patients were infected with out of a total number of 1729 patients diagnosed with periodontal disease, indicating a global prevalence of 43% in the set of patients analyzed. was prevalent in 58% of the patients that had gingivitis and in 44% of the patients with periodontitis. Prevalence of based on gender was 43% in female patients and 47% in male patients. The results indicate that the higher incidence of in people with periodontal disease compared to healthy people is more than just a sign of the disease; it could also be linked to the severity of the condition and the disease propensity to progress.
Topics: Humans; Entamoeba; Periodontal Diseases; Entamoebiasis; Prevalence; Female; Male
PubMed: 38792919
DOI: 10.3390/medicina60050736 -
Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) Apr 2024Human amoebiasis still represents a major health problem worldwide. Metronidazole has been used as the most common drug to treat the disease; however, it is also known...
Human amoebiasis still represents a major health problem worldwide. Metronidazole has been used as the most common drug to treat the disease; however, it is also known that the drug causes undesirable side effects. This has led to the search for new pharmacological alternatives which include phytochemical compounds with antiamoebic effects. We analyzed the amoebicidal activity of stevioside (STV), a diterpene glycoside present in , on trophozoites of . Different concentrations of STV were tested, and an inhibitory concentration of 50% of cell viability (IC) was determined with an exposition of 9.53 mM for 24 h. Trophozoites exposed to STV showed morphological changes evidenced by the decrease in the basic structures related to the movement and adherence to the substrate, as well as ultrastructural features characterized by a loss of regularity on the cell membrane, an increase in cytoplasmic granularity, and an increase in apparent autophagic vacuoles. Also, the decrease in cysteine protease expression and the proteolytic activity of trophozoites to degrade the cell monolayer were analyzed. A histological analysis of hamster livers inoculated with trophozoites and treated with STV showed changes related to the granulomatous reaction of the liver parenchymal tissue. Our results constitute the first report related to the possible use of STV as a therapeutic alternative in amoebiasis.
PubMed: 38787225
DOI: 10.3390/pathogens13050373 -
Eye & Contact Lens Jun 2024To report first clinical use of novel medical treatment for Acanthamoeba keratitis. (Observational Study)
Observational Study
PURPOSE
To report first clinical use of novel medical treatment for Acanthamoeba keratitis.
METHODS
Interventional observational case series. Two patients with Acanthamoeba keratitis were unsuccessfully treated with polihexanide (PHMB) 0.02% and propamidine 0.1% for 6 weeks, then all were shifted in a compassionate use of PHMB 0.08% with novel standardized protocol. The postinterventional follow-up of patients was at least 7 months.
RESULTS
PHMB 0.08% eyedrops in a novel standardized protocol improved infection resolution and led to complete healing of the lesion after 4 weeks in the two cases. Corneal opacities and neovascularization decreased slowly, best-corrected visual acuity slightly improved and progressively increased in the further 7 months, and no infection recurrence occurred.
CONCLUSIONS
This preliminary report of two cases shows promising response to polihexanide 0.08% lowering drastically the illness duration, with reduced chance of recurrence, and mostly improving patients' quality of life.
Topics: Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Acanthamoeba Keratitis; Antiprotozoal Agents; Benzamidines; Biguanides; Ophthalmic Solutions; Visual Acuity; Adolescent
PubMed: 38709240
DOI: 10.1097/ICL.0000000000001092