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A Comparative Study of 14 Strains of Naegleria australiensis Demonstrates the Existence of a Highly Virulent Subspecies: N. australiensis italica n. spp. 1
Author(s) -
JONCKHEERE JOHAN F. DE,
PERNIN PIERRE,
SCAGLIA MASSIMO,
MICHEL ROLF
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
the journal of protozoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 0022-3921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1984.tb02971.x
Subject(s) - virulence , biology , naegleria , antiserum , precipitin , subspecies , microbiology and biotechnology , agglutination (biology) , strain (injury) , naegleria fowleri , immunoelectrophoresis , virology , antibody , genetics , protozoa , zoology , meningoencephalitis , gene , anatomy
Fourteen strains of Naegleria australiensis , including the type strain, were compared for virulence for mice, maximum growth temperature, lectin agglutination, isoenzyme pattern, and total protein banding pattern. Their relation to other species of Naegleria also was compared by immunoelectrophoretic analysis. Strains with high virulence, comparable to that of N. fowleri , were found to be different in concanavalin A agglutination as well as with regard to zymograms and total protein patterns. Although serologically different from N. fowleri and reacting with N. australiensis antiserum in the fluorescent antibody test, these high‐virulence strains differed in number of immunoelectrophoretic precipitin bands. Because of these results, the high‐virulence strains are considered to be a subspecies of N. australiensis . The low‐virulence strains showed minor differences from the type strain. Thus, N. australiensis does not appear to be as homogenous a species as N. fowleri . Pathogenic N. australiensis also seems to be more widespread than previously thought.