Russian scientists have discovered a new type of amoebas “stuffed” with deadly bacteria

The Ministry of Education and Science announced the discovery by specialists of the Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and St. Petersburg State University of a new type of amoebas that carry pathogens of “legionnaires’ disease”. New microorganisms were given the name Balamuthia spinosa, clarifies “Gazeta.ru”. They were discovered while studying samples of natural material from Europe, from the shallow bays of Zunda, one of the straits between the Baltic and North Seas. The results of the study were published in the journal Parasitology Research.

“During the study of the genome of a new species, the specialists of our scientific team found that it is likely to be a carrier of a bacterium that causes the so-called Legionnaires’ disease, a type of severe pneumonia that mainly affects people with weakened immune systems,” says a researcher at the INC laboratory RAS Elena Nasonova.

Scientists say that Balamuthia probably tried to “eat” legionella, but for some reason could not digest them, and therefore they remained to exist as so-called endobionts – organisms that live inside other living organisms. At the same time, amoeba can carry live pathogenic bacteria for many years and then release them into the environment.