Isolation and genotyping of Acanthamoeba strains (T4, T9, and T11) from amoebic keratitis patients in Iran.

The continuous increase in Acanthamoeba keratitis, a severe corneal infection, worldwide is mainly due to the increase in the number of soft contact lens users. In the present study, which involves a 5-year study, a total of 138 corneal scraps and contact lenses together with their paraphernalias were obtained from suspected amoebic keratitis patients. All samples were cultured using culture-enrichment method. Pathogenic assay, using thermotolerance and osmotolerance tests were also performed on the positive strains. Sequencing of the isolated strains was done by targeting the DF3 region of 18s rRNA gene. The results revealed that 18 (13 %) of patients were infected with Acanthamoeba spp. As expected, T4 genotype was the most common genotype among the clinical samples; however, in three cases, Acanthamoeba belonging to T11 and T9 were detected. Interestingly, T9 genotype, commonly classified as non-pathogenic amoebae, was identified as a causal agent of a patient with amoebic keratitis. From the pathogenic assay, four strains belonging to T4 genotypes were highly pathogenic. This is the first report of Acanthamoeba T9 genotypes isolated in Iran and the first report of T9 type occurring in amoebic keratitis patients worldwide. Due to the increasing trend of amoebic keratitis (AK) and the identification of new genotypes, such as T9 as the causative agent of AK, more researches in this field are necessary in the region and the world at large.