ArticleEpidemiology and infection2016
Presence of Balamuthia mandrillaris in hot springs from Mazandaran province, northern Iran.
Article in Epidemiology and infection, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of Free-Living Amoebae in Various Water Sources in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Acta parasitologica · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence of free-living amoebae in swimming pools and recreational waters, a systematic review and meta-analysis.Parasitology research · 2022Pooled it
- Molecular identification of potentially pathogenic free-living amoebae in environmental samples from urban areas of Kerman, Southeastern Iran.Parasite epidemiology and control · 2026Article
- The first reported case ofFrontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Next-Generation Sequencing for Diagnosis of Fatal Balamuthia Amoebic Encephalitis: A Case Report.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Isolation and Environmental Detection of Balamuthia mandrillaris in Isfahan, Iran.Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Article
- Potentially pathogenic free-living amoebae at very high altitude: Detection by multiplex qPCR in the Northern Altiplano fascioliasis hyperendemic area in Bolivia.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Modelling amoebic brain infection caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris using a human cerebral organoid.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- A case report ofHeliyon · 2024Article
- Distribution and Current State of Molecular Genetic Characterization in Pathogenic Free-Living Amoebae.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Various brain-eating amoebae: the protozoa, the pathogenesis, and the disease.Frontiers of medicine · 2021Review
- Article
- Isolation and identification of free-living amoeba from the hot springs and beaches of the Caspian Sea.Parasite epidemiology and control · 2020Article
- An Optimized Most Probable Number (MPN) Method to Assess the Number of Thermophilic Free-Living Amoebae (FLA) in Water Samples.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Isolation and Phylogenetic Analysis of Free-Living Amoebae (Acanthamoeba, Naegleria, and Vermamoeba) in the Farmland Soils and Recreational Places in Iran.Acta parasitologica · 2020Article
- Article
- Free-living amoebae in the water resources of Iran: a systematic review.Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology · 2017Review
- Detection and Molecular Characterization of Potentially Pathogenic Free-Living Amoebae from Recreational and Public Soils in Mazandaran, Northern Iran.Iranian journal of parasitologyArticle
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Balamuthia mandrillaris is an opportunistic free-living amoeba that has been reported to cause cutaneous lesions and Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis. The biology and environmental distribution of B. mandrillaris is still poorly understood and isolation of this pathogen from the environment is a rare event. Previous studies have reported that the presence of B. mandrillaris in the environment in Iran may be common. However, no clinical cases have been reported so far in this country. In the present study, a survey was conducted in order to evaluate the presence of B. mandrillaris in hot-spring samples of northern Iran. A total of 66 water samples were analysed using morphological and molecular tools. Positive samples by microscopy were confirmed by performing PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene of B. mandrillaris. Sequencing of the positive amplicons was also performed to confirm morphological data. Two of the 66 collected water samples were positive for B. mandrillaris after morphological and molecular identification. Interestingly, both positive hot springs had low pH values and temperatures ranging from 32 °C to 42 °C. Many locals and tourists use both hot springs due to their medicinal properties and thus contact with water bodies containing the organism increases the likelihood of infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the isolation of B. mandrillaris from hot-spring sources related to human activity. Therefore, B. mandrillaris should be considered as a possible causative agent if cases of encephalitis are suspected following immersion in hot springs in addition to Acanthamoeba and Naegleria.
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