Keywords
endosymbiotic bacteria
wastewater
Acanthamoeba spp.
Naegleria spp.
How to Cite
Abstract
Free-living amoebae (FLA) are ubiquitous protozoa, present in soils and in natural and artificial aquatic ecosystems. They take part in the purification processes that take place in Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs), thereby turning these plants into ecological niches suitable for proliferation of FLAs, which they colonize and in which they establish their habitat, since they feed on bacteria present in the environment. Biological purification processes are not designed to remove microbiological contamination, although they help to reduce some microbial populations.
At present only some genera and species of FLAs have been described as pathogenic, but all of them pose a risk as reservoirs of pathogenic bacteria. Their cystic stage gives them resistance to adverse conditions and common disinfectants, allowing them to withstand water purification processes and colonize artificial water systems. The presence of FLAs in waters and sludges from 5 WWTPs that discharge their waters into the Ebro river basin has been studied in this work. To this end, a total of 20 sample points were analysed by isolating the FLAs and subsequently identifying their genus and species. The same was done for endosymbiotic bacteria, by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).
Out of 41 FLAs that were isolated in 85 % of the samples, 21 were genetically identified. Thirteen belonged to the genus Acanthamoeba spp., 6 to Naegleria spp. and 2 were identified as Vermamoeba vermiformis. 53.66 % of FLAs hosted Mycobacterium spp., 29.27 % Legionella pneumophila, and 14.63 % Pseudomonas spp.
The articles published in this journal are subject to the following terms and conditions:
- The journal retains copyright of the articles published, and encourages and permits their reuse under the licence indicated at point 2.
- The articles are published in the online edition of the journal under licence Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0). They can be copied, used, disseminated, transmitted, and publicly displayed, providing that the authorship, URL address and the Journal are cited, and that no commercial use is made of them.
- The authors agree with terms of licence use of the journal, with the self-archiving conditions and with the open access policy.
- In the event of reuse of the articles published, the existence and specifications of the terms of licence use must be mentioned, in addition to citing the authorship and original source of the their publication.