[Human diseases caused by free-living amoebae. I. Acanthamoebiasis].

This summary offers an updated panorama of the problems caused in many countries, including our own, by free protozoan, Acanthamoeba class amoebas that in certain circumstances depend on either pathogenic potential or the immunological condition of the host and which produce significant disease syndromes. Presented here are the main morphological and ecological characteristics of these amoeba, a summarized study of their pathological characteristic, diagnostic and therapeutic data, as well as a synopsis of the majority of clinical cases diagnosed in the world to date.