Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Oct 29;16(1):191.
doi: 10.1186/s12886-016-0370-6.

Repertoire of free-living protozoa in contact lens solutions

Ibtissem Bouchoucha  1 , Aurore Aziz  2 , Louis Hoffart  2 , Michel Drancourt  3   4
Affiliations

Repertoire of free-living protozoa in contact lens solutions

Ibtissem Bouchoucha et al. BMC Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Background: 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.

Methods: Between 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.

Results: A 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.

Conclusion: The repertoire of protozoa in contact lens solutions is larger than previously known.

Keywords: Acanthamoeba; Contact lens solution; Keratitis; Protozoa.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Phylogenetic tree based on the 18S rRNA gene sequences derived from 20 protozoan isolates taken from contact lens solutions. Bootstrap values are indicted at nodes. The bar indicates 1‰ substitutions in sequences
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gray TB, Cursons RT, Sherwan JF, Rose PR. Acanthamoeba, bacterial, and fungal contamination of contact lens storage cases. Br J Ophthalmol. 1995;79:601–5. doi: 10.1136/bjo.79.6.601. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kumar R, Lloyd D. Recent advances in the treatment of Acanthamoeba keratitis. Clin Infect Dis. 2002;35:434–41. doi: 10.1086/341487. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Illingworth CD, Cook SD, Karabatsas CH, Easty DL. Acanthamoeba keratitis: risk factors and outcome. Br J Ophthalmol. 1995;79:1078–82. doi: 10.1136/bjo.79.12.1078. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lee SM, Choi YJ, Ryu HW, Kong HH, Chung DI. Species identification and molecular characterization of Acanthamoeba isolated from contact lens paraphernalia. Korean J Ophthalmol. 1997;11:39–50. doi: 10.3341/kjo.1997.11.1.39. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kong HH, Shin JY, Yu HS, Kim J, Hahn TW, Hahn YH, et al. Mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and 18S small-subunit ribosomal DNA PCR-RFLP analyses of Acanthamoeba isolated from contact lens storage cases of residents in southwestern Korea. J Clin Microbiol. 2002;40:1199–206. doi: 10.1128/JCM.40.4.1199-1206.2002. - DOI - PMC - PubMed