Evaluation of a tangential flow microfiltration concentration method for the detection of free-living amoebae in water

The recovery efficiency of tangential flow microfiltration for protozoa has been evaluated using water artificially seeded with a free-living amoeba belonging to a non-pathogenic species of Naegleria: N. lovaniensis. After treatment, the recovery of trophozoites from the concentrate was 24±9.5%. This result was improved further by an elution step which increased final recovery to 40.7±15.2%. This value was significantly better than those we obtained previously for Naegleria trophozoites by standard membrane filtration. Therefore, this method could be applied successfully to the concentration of free-living amoebae in environmental waters.