Survey of Naegleria from Taiwan recreational waters using culture enrichment combined with PCR

Naegleria is a free-living amoeba. Pathogenic Naegleria may pose a health risk to people who come in contact with recreational waters. Here, we used Naegleria culture enrichment with PCR to identify the Naegleria species and investigated the distribution of Naegleria spp. in recreational waters including spring water, stream water and raw domestic water in central and southern Taiwan. In this study, Naegleria spp. were detected in 19 (17.8%) of the water samples. The occurrence of Naegleria in raw domestic water was 28.6%, higher than in stream water (14.7%) and in spring water (6.5%). The most frequently identified species exhibiting the closest phylogenetic relationships to the isolates were N. australiensis (n = 4) and N. canariensis (n = 4), followed by N. clarki (n = 3) and N. philippinensis (n = 3); N. americana (n = 2). N. lovaniensis, N. dobsoni, and N. gruberi were each detected once. The pathogenic species N. fowleri was not detected, probably due to the low incubation temperature; however, the isolates exhibiting the closest phylogenetic relationships to the pathogenic species in mice of PAM, N. australiensis and N. philippinensis, were found. Results of this survey suggest the distribution of Naegleria spp. excluding N. fowleri in recreational waters. It should be considered a potential threat for health associated with human activities in recreational waters.