The presence of free-living amoebae in portable and stationary eye wash stations.

Portable and stationary eye wash stations were tested for the presence of free-living amoebae. Such amoebae may be found in potable waters, and at least one genera, the Acanthamoebae, can cause severe infections when introduced into traumatized eyes. Concentrates of filtrates of water from eye wash stations were placed on nonnutrient agar plates seeded with Escherichia coli. Resultant outgrowths of free-living amoebae, which were morphologically identified as mixtures of Hartmannella and Acanthamoebae, were inoculated intranasally into weanling mice. Subsequently, brain and lung tissues from injected mice were tested for amoebae as an indication of persistent infection. Acanthamoebae and Hartmannella were detected in some eye wash stations at each of four test sites. Both portable and stationary stations harbored Acanthamoebae. Some of the isolates caused persistent pulmonary infection but were not isolated from brain tissue. Flushing stationary eye wash stations temporarily reduced the number of stations positive for amoebae. Treatment of portable stations with 25 ppm of free chlorine also reduced the number of stations harboring amoebae but caused corrosion in some of the stations.