A three-year surveillance study from March 2017 to February 2020 in Kolkata has found an amoeba pathogen that previously did not cause any amoebiasis (a form of diarrhoea) in humans has now become pathogenic. Surprisingly, a team of researchers from the Kolkata-based National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (ICMR-NICED) found that not only had the amoeba pathogen — Entamoeba moshkovskii — turned pathogenic, it was the leading cause of amoebic infections in humans; more than half of the amoebic infections were caused by this pathogen. The researchers studied the stool samples of diarrheal patients admitted in two hospitals in Kolkata.
Of particular concern is the fact that infections caused by E. histolytica, which used to be the predominant amoeba pathogen that caused amoebiasis, were decreasing and the newly pathogenic E. moshkovskii was taking its place. The researchers identified a few mutations that signify an essential role of the new pathogenic parasite in adapting to the gut environment of humans or in acquiring other enteric pathogens.
The results of the study were published recently in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
