CCAP can provide pathogenic strains for diagnostic or research purposes only.

When ordering any strain listed in the 'Strain Data' section as 'PATHOGEN' or 'POSSIBLE PATHOGEN' you are required to submit with your order a copy of CCAP Form A which has been fully completed by the person who will receive and handle the strain (the Responsible Person). CCAP cannot release the culture until Form A has been received.

Special regulations apply to the movement of infectious biological materials. UN specification packaging must be used, the cost of which is charged to the customer. For information on price, delivery and payment details, please go to how to order.

Some pathogenic strains are held at CCAP in both axenic and monoxenic culture (see 'Culture' entry in strain data, axenic cultures are normally grown in PPG medium, monoxenic cultures in NN medium with E. coli food source). If you order one of these strains, please state your preferred culture condition on the order form.

Obligations of the Responsible Person
You should only complete Form A if you are fully competent to handle the strain/s being ordered.
Form A
(pdf version)

Your name and telephone number will be quoted on the outside of the package. You must be available at the quoted telephone number while the package is in transit, in case the carrier needs to contact you for advice.

You must be available to receive the package on the proposed delivery date, and should alert any other staff as necessary (eg Reception, Stores).

For deliveries outside the UK: before ordering, you must check with your local authorities to see whether import restrictions are imposed on these cultures. If special regulations apply in your country, you must obtain any required documentation and send it to CCAP with your order, so that we can send it with the package.

For deliveries outside the UK: you must pay the delivery costs and any import duties/taxes to the carrier on receipt of the package. Note that the carrier cannot give you the package until these costs have been paid. For a quotation of delivery costs for your order, please contact CCAP

A Cautionary Note to Alert the User of Potential Risk
All known and suspected pathogenic strains held by CCAP belong to the genus Acanthamoeba. Strains of any other genus which are designated by CCAP as pathogenic or possibly pathogenic are so listed because they are maintained at CCAP with Acanthamoeba sp. in co-culture.

Acanthamoeba is one of the most common genera of free-living amoebae. It is common in freshwater and soil and may also be isolated from seawater. However, some strains of this genus have been implicated in or are suspected of pathogenicity to man. The following strains have been cleared of pathogenicity to laboratory mice by intranasal instillation or by intracerebral inoculation, or both: CCAP 1501/1A (from which CCAP 1501/1B is derived); CCAP 1501/2A; CCAP 1501/3A; CCAP 1534/1; CCAP 1534/3; CCAP 1547/1

However these tests do not demonstrate that the strains mentioned cannot be pathogens to man by other routes of infection, eg. by invasion of the cornea. Due to the universally-acknowledged difficulty in defining pathogenicity in Acanthamoeba species, and in defining the species themselves, we take the safe option of treating all Acanthamoeba strains as potential pathogens.

Care is therefore recommended in handling all strains of Acanthamoeba.

Further Information
Details of appropriate safe handling procedures can be found in "Categorisation of biological agents according to hazard and categories of containment"; Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, HMSO, London, 1995.