Survival of Vibrio cholerae Inside Acanthamoeba and Detection of Both Microorganisms From Natural Water Samples May Point out the Amoeba as a Protozoal Host for V. cholerae

Summary The ability of free living and waterborne amoebae to feed on bacteria in the surroundings, as well as to host several human bacteria suggests that both amoebae and bacteria are involved in complex interactions. The extracellular bacterium, Vibrio cholerae requires 108 to 109 cells to cause cholera, and accordingly it needs an environmental host to grow to such high numbers to be able to cause the infection in humans. The current review discusses the properties of V. cholerae to be able to grow inside the environmental protozoa Acanthamoeba species, findings of our field study applied molecular detection of both microorganisms in the same natural water samples from cholera endemic area, and role of Acanthamoeba as a protozoal host to V. cholerae in nature beside human.