DETECTION OF A NOVEL RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM TYPE INNAEGLERIA-FOWLERI (FREE-LIVING AMEBA) ISOLATES FROM ELECTRICITY POWER-STATIONS IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE

The human pathogenic free-living amoeba Naegleria fowleri was isolated from two electricity power stations in the North of England. Comparis on with isolates from a similar site in France showed the strains to h ave agarose gel restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in c ommon with those from the antipodes. However, hybridisation of Bgl II digests with a repetitive element clone of chromosomal DAN detected ad ditional RFLPs that uniquely characterised the strains. This RFLP prof ile was not identified in N. fowleri isolates from the natural hot spr ings in Bath, England, suggesting that the two sites have been colonis ed independently. Differences in RFLP types were also defected within other isolates from Europe that have not previously been observed. In addition, a strain of N. fowleri isolated from the first case of prima ry amoebic meningoencephalitis in Hong Kong was found to be identical to European strains. The findings of this study indicate that mixed po pulations of N. fowleri can occur within countries and that the specie s cannot be differentiated by the continent of origin on the basis of RFLP type as has previously been reported.