How Effective Iodine Is Against Acanthamoeba

Paul E. Seibers IIIUndergraduate Student (Microbiology Concentration)

Department of BiologyTennessee Technological University

Cookeville, TN 38505

Project Summary

1. Introductiona. Background of Acanthamoebab. Problem- Disinfectants of today.

2. Objective/hypothesis a. Find better disinfectantb. Iodine is highly effective against Acanthamoeba.

3. Methods and Materials.4. Expected Results and Benefits5. Project Timeline- End of Research March 24, 20066. Budget- $3,786

Introduction

• Acanthamoebas- Single-celled organisms in the Protista kingdom that can cause skin and eye infections.

• Environment: They can inhabit soils, dust, and any type of fresh water, including our drinking water.

• Infectious: Eye infection, lesions on skin, and severe sickness. Accessible through cuts on skin, oral and nasal ingestion, and water splashed in eyes.

• Problem: Chlorine may be a strong disinfectant against bacteria, but Acanthamoeba are more resistant (Cursons and Brown 1980). Form cyst in harsh environments.

Cursons R. T. M, and T. J Brown. 1980. Effect of Disinfectants on Pathogenic Free-Living Amoeba: in Axenic Conditions. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 40: 62-66

Objective/Hypothesis

• Objective- Test effectiveness of Iodine against Acanthamoeba.

• Hypothesis- Iodine is highly effective. Possibly better than chlorine.

Methods and Materials

• 1. Growing Acanthamoebaa. cultivated using PCB(plate count broth), which consists of 5 g bacto

typtone, 2.5 bacto yeast extract, 1 bacto dextrose, and 15 g bacto agar for liter with a final pH of 7.0 ± .2 at 25˚C.

b. Incubated at 25˚C.c. Washed in Osterhoult buffer tris

salt solution

• 2. Determine range of concentration for lethal dose through a practice run.

• 3. Find lethal dose rate.

a. Self-Count amoeba with inverted microscope.

b. Set up iodine concentrations.

c. After amoeba are exposed for a certain length of time, count the number alive.

Expected Results and Benefits

TABLE 1.

 

Iodine Disinfectent

Vial 1 (10%)

Vial 2 (1%)

Vial 3 (.1%)

Vial 4 (.01%)

Vial 5 (.001)

Vial 6 (.0001)

Acanthamoeba All dead Few dead All alive All alive All alive All alive

• Benefits: 1. By conducting this research, the effectiveness of iodine will be

determined against Acanthamoeba.

2. A question to whether or not iodine would be a suitable disinfectant for

water treatment will be answered.

3. Possibility of iodine being stronger then chlorine.

4. Research could improve the health of people.

Project Timeline

Budget

Total Costs: $3786

Budget

$1696, 44%Fume Hood

$1200, 32%Inverted

Microscope

$30, 1%pipettes

$800, 21%Incubator

$30, 1%vials

$30, 1%Iodine

Questions?