Isolation of Hartmannella Species from Human Throats

Abstract

IN a previous, preliminary publication1 we reported the recognition of 19 strains of free-living amebas of the genus hartmannella§ (acanthameba) in tissue cultures inoculated from pharyngeal swabs obtained for the study of viral respiratory diseases. Recently, several publications3 4 5 have described fatal human cases of acute meningoencephalitis resulting from infections with similar free-living amebas. In addition, others have reported the isolation of hartmannella species from swabs obtained for virus-isolation studies from the nose, pharynx, bronchi6 , 7 and, possibly, blood.8 , 9 In other reports such organisms were found to be "contaminants" of cultures of monkey-kidney cells.10 , 11 In the paper by Jahnes et al.10 the . . .