{"title":"Prevalence and molecular characterization of Centrocestus formosanus in wild tilapia from the Western Nile Delta of Egypt","authors":"Mohamed Khallaf , Amanallah El-Bahrawy , Abeer Awad , Ghada Hadad , Maram Mahmoud , Ahmed Elkhatam , Shaban Gadallah , Mosaab Omar , Mahmoud AbouLaila , Hanan Ghetas","doi":"10.1016/j.parint.2025.103068","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Centrocestus formosanus</em> is a small, fish-borne zoonotic trematode belonging to the family Heterophyidae. It causes financial losses in the aquaculture industry. In this research, we aimed to study the prevalence of metacercariae among wild tilapia fish, histopathology, and molecular characterization of <em>Centrocestus formosanus</em> using ITS-2 gene PCR. The overall prevalence of <em>C. formosanus</em> was 72.07 %. The prevalence was 68.50 % for <em>S. galilaeus</em>, 74.28 % for <em>O. niloticus</em>, 73.64 % for <em>T. zillii</em>, and 78.57 % for <em>O. aureus</em>. The prevalence was 71.45 % in Kom Hamada City and 73.66 % in Eldelengat City. Autumn showed the highest prevalence of 75.42 %. The small-size fish had the highest prevalence of 71.71 %. Microscopically, the encysted metacercariae of <em>Centrocestus</em> exhibited characteristic X-shaped excretory vesicles. Severe inflammatory reactions and cartilaginous hyperplasia were observed, causing distortion and thickening of the primary lamellae. Epithelial cell hyperplasia and blood vessel hyperemia led to the gill secondary lamellae thickening. PCR of the ITS-2 gene successfully amplified specific bands. The sequences were highly identical to those from Israel, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Iran, and China. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the clustering of Egyptian ITS-2 sequences with those from Israel, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Iran, and China. In conclusion, this study presents the prevalence, histopathology, and first molecular characterization of <em>Centrocestus formosanus</em> in wild tilapia from the Western Nile Delta of Egypt.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19983,"journal":{"name":"Parasitology International","volume":"108 ","pages":"Article 103068"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Parasitology International","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1383576925000418","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PARASITOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Centrocestus formosanus is a small, fish-borne zoonotic trematode belonging to the family Heterophyidae. It causes financial losses in the aquaculture industry. In this research, we aimed to study the prevalence of metacercariae among wild tilapia fish, histopathology, and molecular characterization of Centrocestus formosanus using ITS-2 gene PCR. The overall prevalence of C. formosanus was 72.07 %. The prevalence was 68.50 % for S. galilaeus, 74.28 % for O. niloticus, 73.64 % for T. zillii, and 78.57 % for O. aureus. The prevalence was 71.45 % in Kom Hamada City and 73.66 % in Eldelengat City. Autumn showed the highest prevalence of 75.42 %. The small-size fish had the highest prevalence of 71.71 %. Microscopically, the encysted metacercariae of Centrocestus exhibited characteristic X-shaped excretory vesicles. Severe inflammatory reactions and cartilaginous hyperplasia were observed, causing distortion and thickening of the primary lamellae. Epithelial cell hyperplasia and blood vessel hyperemia led to the gill secondary lamellae thickening. PCR of the ITS-2 gene successfully amplified specific bands. The sequences were highly identical to those from Israel, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Iran, and China. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the clustering of Egyptian ITS-2 sequences with those from Israel, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Iran, and China. In conclusion, this study presents the prevalence, histopathology, and first molecular characterization of Centrocestus formosanus in wild tilapia from the Western Nile Delta of Egypt.
期刊介绍:
Parasitology International provides a medium for rapid, carefully reviewed publications in the field of human and animal parasitology. Original papers, rapid communications, and original case reports from all geographical areas and covering all parasitological disciplines, including structure, immunology, cell biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and systematics, may be submitted. Reviews on recent developments are invited regularly, but suggestions in this respect are welcome. Letters to the Editor commenting on any aspect of the Journal are also welcome.