Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Nf0916 »

Madam, Naegleria fowleri, i.e., brain-eating amoeba, is a single-cell, free-living parasite that resides in soil and warm freshwater bodies such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs. It enters the nasal cavity from contaminated water, uses the olfactory nerve to reach the brain, and causes a deadly infection called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), with a mortality rate higher than 97% even with treatment. (1,2) It causes symptoms similar to those of other bacterial and viral meningitis, such as fever, headache, vomiting, altered level of consciousness and coma, followed by death in the span of a week to 10 days. (1) There are 20 strains of Naegleria world worldwide, but only N. fowleri is dangerous to humans. (1) In 2008, the first case was reported from Karachi, Pakistan. (2) By 2019, the number had reached 146, (2) and the cases have been increasing until now. In 2023, eight cases have been reported from May to August, among which seven are from the province of Sindh and one from Punjab. (3, 4, 6) The available data shows that two deaths were due to recreational water activities and others because of contaminated tap water.(3,4) This pathogenic amoeba commonly infects men, and the majority of cases were in people aged 26 to 45 years.(1) Of all the reported cases this year, one was a 32-year-old female, and seven were males in the aged 19-45 years.(3,4, 6) The increasing global warming and higher authorities’ negligence towards WHO recommended chlorination (0.1-10 mg/L) of domestic water supply are contributing factors to the higher burden of Naegleria fowleri cases in Karachi, the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan .(5) The new lethal strain of N. fowleri, named as Karachi-NF001, has been found in one patient who traveled from Saudi Arabia to Karachi in 2019. (2) These emerging cases concern strict actions against this problem and the need to alert the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) regarding consistent chlorination from April to October. (5) The monsoon season (May to September) is the best time to spread awareness regarding its prevention and update the current status of N. fowleri in our country. The general public should be encouraged to use boiled or sterilised water for ablution and avoid aquatic activities in non-chlorinated water during the summer season. (3) Besides that, all underground and overhead water tanks in homes, hospitals, shopping malls, schools, offices, etc. should be cleaned once a year. (3)

Naegleria fowleri (N. fowleri) is a free-living thermophilic amoeba of fresh water and soil. The amoeba primarily feeds on bacteria but can be transmitted to humans upon contact with freshwater sources. Furthermore, this brain-eating amoeba enters the human body through the nose and travels to the brain to cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). N. fowleri has been reported globally since its discovery in 1961. Recently a new strain of N. fowleri named Karachi-NF001 was found in a patient who had traveled from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Karachi in 2019. There were 15 unique genes identified in the genome of the Karachi-NF001 strain compared to all the previously reported strains of N. fowleri worldwide. Six of these genes encode well-known proteins. In this study, we performed in-silico analysis on 5 of these 6 proteins, namely, Rab family small GTPase, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 11, two Glutamine-rich protein 2 proteins (locus tags: 12086 and 12110), and Tigger transposable element-derived protein 1. We conducted homology modeling of these 5 proteins followed by their active site identification. These proteins were subjected to molecular docking against 105 anti-bacterial ligand compounds as potential drugs. Subsequently, the 10 best-docked compounds were determined for each protein and ranked according to the number of interactions and their binding energies. The highest binding energy was recorded for the two Glutamine-rich protein 2 proteins with different locus tags, and results have shown that the protein-inhibitor complex was stable throughout the simulation run. Moreover, future in-vitro studies could validate the findings of our in-silico analysis and identify potential therapeutic drugs against N. fowleri infections.