Amoebas dangerous ?

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Satinnature
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Amoebas dangerous ?

#1 Post by Satinnature » Sun Jan 10, 2021 9:39 pm

Hello,

I have a question, I would like to observe amoebas, tough, when I read about them, I learnt that some strains are dangerous.
So I was wondering, as an amateur microscopist, do I have to take some precautions when manipulating protists ?
I'm thinking about nematodes too.

Of course I wash my hands after using my microscope and observing those. But should I use gloves ?
Glasses ? A mask ? I don't know. Should I use my microscope on tiles rather than wood ? Thanks

DonSchaeffer
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#2 Post by DonSchaeffer » Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:52 pm

I think it's safe as long as you don't swallow them or get them in your orifices. I see them very often in my grass infusions.

Plasmid
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#3 Post by Plasmid » Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:52 am

Yes amoebas are dangerous. Although rare in the Western hemisphere, a few cases pop up every now and then like the case of a 7-year-old that went swimming in freshwater and ended up with a "brain eating amoeba" which is caused by Naegleria fowleri, although it's not really classified as an amoeba. Another disease of the central nervous system caused by an amoebae is meningeocephalopathy, caused by Acanthamoeba; which normal habitat includes warm lakes, ponds, puddles, mud and moist soil. You can also find this particular one in swimming pools,air conditioning units, humidifiers, contact lens solution. When handling pond water keep in mind that amoeba can enter the host through cuts or scrapes on the skin, and then travel to the brain via cranial nerves.... And its usually fatal. To put it in perspective there's only been three survivors since records have been kept. If any of that doesn't scare you enough both of the amoebas listed above produce resistant cyst. Furthermore the most common disease caused by amoebas is amebiasis which is characterized by severe diarrhea, colitis, appendicitis etc..
The most serious version "invasive extraintestinal amebiasis" can cause lesions in the liver, lungs, spleen, kidneys and brain. Entamoeba histolytica can cause all of the ones listed above, and it's favorite route of entrance is from contaminated hands. I found some of the ones that I've listed and some of my water samples. So by all means make sure to wash your hands and disinfect the surface where you prepare your slides.
I I have all of my microscopes on a wooden desk with a plastic lining on top of it, so that I can disinfect it with alcohol and or a bleach solution. As far as using gloves and or safety glasses, it's a personal choice in labs it's a requirement to do so.

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Satinnature
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#4 Post by Satinnature » Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:38 am

Why did I choose to like protists.

I should just keep to plants and harmless stuff like lichen or moss maybe ahaha.

But yeah that scared me a bit !

MicroBob
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#5 Post by MicroBob » Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:27 am

Hi together,
I would suggest to treat this in perspective to what you and others do in everyday life. I go swimming in ponds and rivers and dig around in the garden if my wife gets hold of me. I dive in this water but avoid to swallow it. I don't wear a full body condom when I enter the water. This is what many other people do and rarely one gets a problem with amoebae.
On the other hand side when I would set up a culture where I promote and intensify the development of micro life I would be cautious, not only because of amoebae, but also bacteria and other stuff. This also will depend on the environment where you take your samples from.

Bob

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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#6 Post by DonSchaeffer » Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:28 pm

When you look at plants, especially those in moist environments, you are bound to find amoebas. There was a You Tube by a dentist looking at biofilm (plaque) in the mouth of a patient who found two amoebas crawling among the bacteria and consuming them. The dentist did warn us that we don't want to have amoebas in our mouths.

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Satinnature
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#7 Post by Satinnature » Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:38 am

You can't escaped amoebas then

JGardner
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#8 Post by JGardner » Tue Jan 12, 2021 7:50 pm

Working with amoebas is a minor risk that can easily be mitigated by common sense precautions like washing hands after handling materials, wearing gloves (particularly if you have any open cuts on your hands), refraining from eating and drinking while working with amoeba-containing materials, etc.

The same applies to working with other biological materials (bacteria, fungus, protists, etc.) and chemicals. Just use good common sense and reasonable precautions and you'll be fine.

Placozoa
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#9 Post by Placozoa » Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:25 am

They found a cure for naegleria fowleri, the dangerous one, so the answer has changed to "no, amoebas are not dangerous". Even the dangerous one was only dangerous when it was starving, so dont starve your amoebas. Probably shouldnt sniff them up your nose, just as a precaution.

There are several thousand species of amoeba, your chances of finding "the one" are remote anyways. I wouldnt worry about it too much, there are more amoebas in your yard than there are nematodes, you spend a lot of time with them anyways. Oliver would disagree, but I think they are worth the risk.

Edit: I would like to add that while amoebas may not be dangerous to me, they are dangerous to some of my friends. Several of them attack plants (Brassica rapa, bok choi, by Plasmodiophora brassicae, an amoeboid endomyxa, for example) and some of them attack other microbes.
Last edited by Placozoa on Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

DonSchaeffer
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#10 Post by DonSchaeffer » Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:13 pm

Know your enemy. Recently i saw some videos about biofilm on teeth, in other words, dental plaque. They showed amoebas moving among the bacteria in the biofilm on the teeth of a dental patient.

Tom Jones
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#11 Post by Tom Jones » Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:48 pm

To quote the CDC:
Although most cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by Naegleria fowleri infection in the United States have been fatal (144/148 in the U.S., 1), there have been five well-documented survivors in North America: one in the U.S. in 1978 2, 3, one in Mexico in 2003 4, two additional survivors from the U.S. in 2013 5, 6, and one from the U.S. in 2016. It has been suggested that the original U.S. survivor’s strain of Naegleria fowleri was less virulent, which contributed to the patient’s recovery. In laboratory experiments, the original U.S. survivor’s strain did not cause damage to cells as rapidly as other strains, suggesting that it is less virulent than strains recovered from other fatal infections
. https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/treatment.html

In response the the question "is there an effective treatment", the CDC says;
It is not clear. Several drugs are effective against Naegleria fowleri in the laboratory. However, their effectiveness is unclear since almost all infections have been fatal, even when people were treated with similar drug combinations. Recently, two people with Naegleria infection survived after being treated with a new drug called miltefosine that was given along with other drugs and aggressive management of brain swelling.
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/general.html

In the first case where the patient survived, they were also lucky in that the lab tech doing the CSF cell count on the patient saw amoeboid movement, so they were able to give an initial diagnosis much faster than is the normal case. That was at the San Bernardino County Medical Center in 1978, and I remember reading about it at the time. I started working in the lab there in 1984 and had more than one discussion with the tech that found it, the other microbiologists, and the pathologists in charge. The 8 year old patient had contracted it while swimming in a hot spring at Deep Creek, not too far from my home, at the northern foothills of the San Bernardino mountains in Southern California.

Most Naegleria cases are associated with swimming in warmer fresh water. If you contract it, you are far more likely to die than not. Correct diagnosis tends to take enough time for the infection to be too far along to stop. As far as I know there are no laboratory acquired cases. Normal laboratory techniques are all that is required for safety.

Most Acanthamoeba cases are keratitis and related to wearing contact lenses without properly cleaning them. If it gets to the brain, it can cause granulomatous amebic encephalitis, also almost always fatal. Again, I know there are no laboratory acquired cases, and normal laboratory techniques are all that is required for safety.

So, yes a few of the amoebas can be dangerous. But the odds of you running into one and becoming infected during routine microscopy explorations are pretty slim. The vast, vast majority are harmless.

Tom

Placozoa
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#12 Post by Placozoa » Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:09 pm

The treatment is new, it only passed peer review a week or so ago. I purposely do not pay any attention to pathogen information. Its an endless rabbit hole that interferes with me learning about microbes for thier own sake. I am not going to look for it again, but it was some kind of plant extract/enzyme (doctors know, I just cant remember) that when given to the patient causes the naegleria fowleri to stop attacking and retreat. Sends some sort of chemical signal to it. Prior to this treatment all they could do was fight symptoms and hope. Their is always some chance your doctor will misdiagnose it and you will die, or that you will not seek treatment until its too late.

Its interesting that you shouldnt put amoebas in your eyes, I didnt know that. Learn new stuff all the time.

You still shouldnt starve your amoebas, even though the vast majority are harmless. :)

@satinnature:
P.S. Lichens are dangerous. Maybe just stick to moss (but I heard there are a lot of bears in moss).

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20374448

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Wes
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#13 Post by Wes » Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:38 pm

Tom Jones wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:48 pm
To quote the CDC:
Although most cases of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by Naegleria fowleri infection in the United States have been fatal (144/148 in the U.S., 1), there have been five well-documented survivors in North America: one in the U.S. in 1978 2, 3, one in Mexico in 2003 4, two additional survivors from the U.S. in 2013 5, 6, and one from the U.S. in 2016. It has been suggested that the original U.S. survivor’s strain of Naegleria fowleri was less virulent, which contributed to the patient’s recovery. In laboratory experiments, the original U.S. survivor’s strain did not cause damage to cells as rapidly as other strains, suggesting that it is less virulent than strains recovered from other fatal infections
. https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/treatment.html

In response the the question "is there an effective treatment", the CDC says;
It is not clear. Several drugs are effective against Naegleria fowleri in the laboratory. However, their effectiveness is unclear since almost all infections have been fatal, even when people were treated with similar drug combinations. Recently, two people with Naegleria infection survived after being treated with a new drug called miltefosine that was given along with other drugs and aggressive management of brain swelling.
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/general.html

In the first case where the patient survived, they were also lucky in that the lab tech doing the CSF cell count on the patient saw amoeboid movement, so they were able to give an initial diagnosis much faster than is the normal case. That was at the San Bernardino County Medical Center in 1978, and I remember reading about it at the time. I started working in the lab there in 1984 and had more than one discussion with the tech that found it, the other microbiologists, and the pathologists in charge. The 8 year old patient had contracted it while swimming in a hot spring at Deep Creek, not too far from my home, at the northern foothills of the San Bernardino mountains in Southern California.

Most Naegleria cases are associated with swimming in warmer fresh water. If you contract it, you are far more likely to die than not. Correct diagnosis tends to take enough time for the infection to be too far along to stop. As far as I know there are no laboratory acquired cases. Normal laboratory techniques are all that is required for safety.

Most Acanthamoeba cases are keratitis and related to wearing contact lenses without properly cleaning them. If it gets to the brain, it can cause granulomatous amebic encephalitis, also almost always fatal. Again, I know there are no laboratory acquired cases, and normal laboratory techniques are all that is required for safety.

So, yes a few of the amoebas can be dangerous. But the odds of you running into one and becoming infected during routine microscopy explorations are pretty slim. The vast, vast majority are harmless.

Tom
Thanks for the interesting read Tom, are you a pathologist?

BR
Wes
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Tom Jones
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Re: Amoebas dangerous ?

#14 Post by Tom Jones » Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:16 pm

I'm a retired Clinical Lab Scientist with a degree in clinical microbiology. I was a lab supervisor for 25 years. SB County Hospital, renamed Arrowhead Regional Medical Center when we moved to a new campus in 1999, was, and probably still is, the second busiest trauma center in California. As a result I got to see a few things most others didn't!

Tom

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