View article

Free-living amoebae and Acanthamoebae are known to harbour a range of opportunistic microbial pathogens such as Legionellae, sequestering them from antimicrobial agents as well as environmental stresses. Less is known however of the interaction between the thermotolerant free-living amoebae and Legionellae. In the current study, such phenomena were investigated between an environmental and clinical thermotolerant Acanthamoebae isolate and 6 Legionellae; L. anisa, L. birminghamiensis, L. bozemanii, L. dumoffii, L. erythra and L. pneumophila. All Legionellae could be located within either Acanthamoeba isolate, with L. erythra, and L. pneumophila found located within vacuoles. At concentrations exceeding 2 mg/l, free chlorine was a better disinfectant than combined chlorine against Acanthamoebae-bound Legionellae, though thermal treatment was the most effective of the treatment types …