The free-living amoebae (FLA) belongs to Acanthamoeba and Sappinia genera as well as Balamuthia mandrillaris and Naegleria fowleri species, occurring worldwide and can potentially cause infections in humans and other animals.
All four amoebae cause infections of the central nervous system (CNS) that are normally lethal. The lethal amoebae enters the body through the nose, where it feeds on the brain until the person dies.
Professor John Lindo, a parasitologist at the University Hospital of the West Indies, points out that since the discovery of the disease in Australia in the 1960s, it has been reported in 15 other countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America and the number of cases worldwide has been increasing.
For the last eight years, the University of the West Indies (UWI) has been leading studies, in conjunction with the University of LaLaguna (ULL) in Spain on the Acanthamoeba genus. Acanthamoeba Granulomatous Encephalitis is a chronic, pro-gressive infection of the CNS that may also involve the lungs.
The scientists leading the research are Dr Jacob Lorenzo Morlaes (Institute of Tropical Medicine, ULL) and Professor Lindo. During this period, Acanthamoeba strains with pathogenic potential to humans and other animals have been isolated from water sources from all over Jamaica.
In a study published in the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, the research group reported that from the collected samples, strains with pathogenic potential were shown as 60 per cent in tap water, 68.4 per cent in river water, and 40.4 per cent of the sea-water samples.
Australia was the only country where Naegleria fowleri had been associated with public water supplies.
Last week, there were three reported deaths associated with the brain-eating amoebae disease in the southern United States by the Centers for Disease Control. Some 124 cases have been reported in the US since 1978.
