Acanthamoebiasis
Acanthamoebiasis is a protozoal disease caused by various kinds of free-living amoeba, manifested by the damage of the eyes, skin and CNS.
Immunosuppression and debilitating illnesses are occasionally associated with multifocal brain lesions of Acanthamoebiasis, an encephalitis distinct from the acute, water-sport related meningoencephalitis caused by Naegleria fowler. It's thought to be an opportunistic infection.
Akantameby - usually free living animals, which, getting into the human body, are able to pass to parasitism and end in the host organism its development cycle, forming cysts.
The source of infestation is the external environment (water, soil contaminated with amoeba, etc.). A person becomes infected with acanthamoebiasis by contact-household, water and food routes. Incidence sporadic, infection is possible in all seasons of the year. Pathogens are ubiquitous. Most cases of the disease are recorded in countries with a tropical and subtropical climate.
What causes acanthamoebiasis?
For humans, several species of amoebas belonging to the genus Acanthamoeba are pathogenic.
The life cycle of acanthamoeb includes two stages: trophozoite and cyst. Trophozoite has an oval, triangular or irregular shape with a size of 10-45 μm, one core with a large endosome, and there is an extra-nuclear centroscope. Trophozoites form narrow, threadlike or styloid pseudopodia. The size of cysts is from 7 to 25 μm. Cysts are single-core, multilayered.
Symptoms of acantammebiasis
Acanthamoebas are found in smears from the nasopharynx and in the feces of healthy people. Most often develop acanthamoebic keratitis and skin lesions. In the case of skidding of amoebas in the brain by hematogenous way from the primary lesions in the cornea of the eye or in the respiratory tract, granulomatous acanthamoebic encephalitis develops. The incubation period of acantammebiasis usually lasts from several weeks to several months. In the initial period, the symptoms of acanthamoebiasis appear in an erased form. There are headaches, drowsiness, convulsions, mental disorders are noted.
The disease of acantamoebiasis gradually progresses, the comatose state develops, which leads to a fatal outcome. In pathological anatomical studies, edema of the cerebral hemispheres, foci of softening with exudate on the surface of the cortex and thickening of the soft membranes are noted. On the sections in the majority of the brain areas, multiple foci of softening with hemorrhagic necrosis of 1.5 to 6.5 cm are found. In the necrotic masses, trophozoites and acanthamoeb cysts are found.
If the eyes are affected, corneal perforation may develop. It is possible to form amoebic abscesses of internal organs during dissemination of pathogens from the primary lesion. Source
Juglone induces cell death of Acanthamoeba through increased production of reactive oxygen species.
THE USE OF EXTRACTS FROM PASSIFLORA SPP. IN HELPING THE TREATMENT OF ACANTHAMOEBIASIS