Introduction: Acanthamoeba is an ubiquitous free-living protozoa which causes serious ocular problems. Acanthamoeba keratitis is becoming more prevalent amongst contact lens wearers. The disease can cause loss of vision and blindness if not treated properly. The objective of this research is to study the sensitivity of six Acanthamoeba spp. isolates, of which three were from the clinical isolates (HKL 95, HTH 40 and HS 6) and the remaining three from environmental isolates (TTT 9, TL 3 and SMAL 8) to antimicrobial agents. Methods: The antimicrobial agents chosen for this purpose were polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) and chlorhexidine. Serial dilutions were perfomed for polyhexamethylene biguanide and chlorhexidine. Cyst suspensions from the chosen isolates were exposed to PHMB and chlorhexidine respectively. After 48 hours incubation time at 30°C, each mixture was filtered and filtration membrane was put onto non-nutrient agar laid with Escherichia coli. The agar plates were incubated for three days at 30°C and examined daily until day 14 to detect the presence of Acanthamoeba trophozoites under the inverted microscope. The presence of trophozoites indicated the ineffectiveness of the antimicrobial agents. Results: Both of the antimicrobial agents tested were found to be effective against Acanthamoeba cysts from all the test strains. Polyhexamethylene biguanide gave a minimum cysticidal concentration (MCC) mean value of 2.848 μg/mL while chlorhexidine showed
MCC mean value at a concentration of 3.988 μg/mL. Conlusion: It can be concluded that the Acanthamoeba cysts were sensitive to polyhexamethylene biguanide and chlorhexidine.
Acanthamoeba is a free-living amoeba and opportunistic protozoa that causes infection to humans. One of its primary infections is Acanthamoeba keratitis that occurs mostly amongst contact lens users. There are some difficulties in providing effective treatment to the patients as the cysts of Acanthamoeba spp. are very resistant towards most of the antimicrobial agents. Thus, study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents comprising 0.1% propamidine isethionate (Brolene®) and 0.3% ciprofloxacin (Ciloxan®) towards two clinical isolates of Acanthamoeba spp. (HUKM 74 and HS 72). Besides that, the minimum cysticidal concentration (MCC) of the tested antimicrobial agents were also determined. Propamidine isethionate and ciprofloxacin showed cysticidal activities at therapeutic dosage against both Acanthamoeba spp. isolates. The minimum cysticidal concentration for propamidine isethionate was between 62.5-125 µg/ml while for ciprofloxacin was 375 µg/ml. Both the clinical isolates of Acanthamoeba belonged to group II (Polyphagids).
Intestinal parasitic infections are important public health problems among underprivileged communities. This study was carried out to evaluate the infection rate of intestinal parasites among aborigine children at Pos Sungai Rual, Kelantan, Malaysia. A total of 111 faecal samples from aborigine children aged 4-12 years were screened for intestinal parasites by direct smear technique. Harada-Mori culture was also performed to identify hookworm and Strongyloides stercoralis larvae. The results showed that 87.4% of the children examined were positive for one or more parasites. Intestinal parasites were significantly lower in boys (78.7%) as compared to girls (93.8%). The infection occurred in very young children aged 4-6 years (80.0%) and the percentage of parasite-positive cases appeared to be significantly higher (92.9%) among the children aged 7-9 years. Trichuris trichiura was the most common parasite found in aborigine children (65.8%). Low socioeconomic status, poor environmental sanitation and poor personal hygiene are possible contributing factors that increase the rate of intestinal parasitic infections among the children. Thus, the parasitic diseases will continue to threaten the people's health especially among communities from rural areas if no appropriate actions are taken to diminish the transmission of the parasites.