Isolation and identification of Acanthamoeba species from natural water sources in the northeastern part of Thailand.

Acanthamoeba are found in the environment, particularly in water, all over the world. The genus is currently classified into 20 different genotypes, T1-T20. In this study, 63 natural water samples from 11 provinces in northeast Thailand were collected and cultured on non-nutrient agar plates. Positive samples by culture were subsequently analyzed by molecular methods. The identification of Acanthamoeba was based on morphological features and molecular techniques using PCR and DNA sequencing. The results showed that 10 samples out of 63 were positive (15.9 %). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that seven samples were T4, one sample was similar to T3, and the other two samples were similar to T5. This is the first report demonstrating the contamination of Acanthamoeba species in natural water sources in northeast Thailand.