Amoeba co-culture of soil specimens recovered 33 different bacteria, including four new species and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The article focuses on the detection of Amoeba-resistant bacteria (ARB) in human and environmental samples wherein their habitat is regarded as a reservoir of human pathogens. It states that co-culture with amoeba is an efficient tool, yet, only water samples from cooling towers and hospital water supply has been studied as possible ARB reservoirs. It presents the study on ARB population of diverse soil and sand sources in proximity to human environments in the city of Marseilles, France. It also provides information on the result of the study in which the ability to grow within lyse amoebae was demonstrated, and 20 of the isolates including Streptococcus pneumoniae were described as human pathogens.