SEDL / STP / STP1071-EB / STP25332S

Free-Living Amoebae: Health Concerns in the Indoor Environment

Tyndall, RL
staff scientiststaff member, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryUniversity of Tennessee, Oak RidgeKnoxville, TNTN

Ironside, KS
staff scientiststaff member, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryUniversity of Tennessee, Oak RidgeKnoxville, TNTN

Pages: 13    Published: Jan 1990

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Abstract

Free-living amoebae are the most likely protozoa implicated in health concerns of the indoor environment. These amoebae can be the source of allergic reactions, eye infections or, on rare occasions, encephalitis. While too large to be effectively aerosolized, free-living amoebae can support the multiplication of pathogens such as Legionella which are easily aerosolized and infectious via the pulmonary route. Traditional detection methods for free-living amoebae are laborious and time consuming. Newer techniques for rapidly detecting and quantitating free-living amoebae such as monoclonal antibodies, flow cytometry, gene probes, and laser optics have or could be employed.