Research Journal of Parasitology最新文献

{"title":"Molecular Characterization of Bubaline Isolate of Cryptosporidium Species from Egypt","authors":"Khaled A. Abdelrahma, K. N. Megeed, A. Hammam, G. Morsy, Moshera M.E. Seliem, Dina Aboelsoued","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.127.141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.127.141","url":null,"abstract":"Cryptosporidium an apicomplexan parasite has the ability to induce diarrhea in bovines, goats, pigs, dogs and cats worldwide. In this study, buffalo calves fecal samples were examined after staining their smears with Modified Ziehl-Neelsen Stain (MZN). Ileal sections were examined for the detection of pathological changes. Further molecular characterization was done using nested PCR amplification and partial sequence analysis. The detected oocysts were morphologically similar to Cryptosporidium parvum. Light microscopic examination of Cryptosporidium infected ileal Tissue Section (TS) stained with H and E revealed the presence of altered mucosal architecture with congestion of blood vessels, infiltration, sloughing and complete erosion of epithelial cells and shortening, blunting, stunting and atrophy of the intestinal villi. Molecular characterization gave PCR amplicons of 18S SSU rRNA gene products approximately at 823 bp. Sequences proved specified generalized relatedness with 21 species of Cryptosporidium but the nucleotide homogeneity percentage was insufficient to designate species or genotypes. Further bioinformatics analysis showed that resulting Cryptosporidium isolates had the closest match with three isolates. It was implied that the Cryptosporidium isolates is mostly like Cryptosporidium parvum (JX237832.1) previously isolated from buffaloes in Ismailia province.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122358232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Detection of Toxoplasma gondii (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) in the Brown Dog Tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae) Fed on Infected Rabbits","authors":"S. A. Shafy, R. M. Shaapan, Khaled A. Abdelrahma, A. Namaky, F. Aziza, Hala A. Abou Zeina","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.142.150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.142.150","url":null,"abstract":"The brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus is a three-host tick that feeds primarily on dog and occasionally on other hosts, including human. Toxoplasmosis is generally considered the most important disease that causing abortion of both pregnant women and different female animals throughout the world. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the ability of the brown dog tick R. sanguineus to acquire Toxoplasma infection through feeding its larvae on experimentally infected rabbits with T. gondii. The R. sanguineous larvae were feed on rabbits experimentally infected with locally isolated virulent Toxoplasma gondii strain. Nymphs moulted from these larvae were investigated to detect the presence of T. gondii specific B1 gene DNA using PCR at 193 bp. Histological examination for liver, lung and heart of experimentally infected rabbits was performed to confirm the infection of animals with T. gondii. The histopathological examination of infected rabbit tissues (heart, lung liver) revealed infiltration of T. gondii tachyzoites and polymorph nuclear inflammatory cells in addition the presence of different tissue alterations and degeneration other than that in normally histological tissues of non-infected rabbits. The nymphs of R. sanguineus were free from T. gondii. Further investigations are needed on the other developmental stages of R. sanguineus to ensure the ability of this tick species in transmission of T. gondii.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"245 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131683168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bovine Theileriosis: Effects on the Status of Thyroid Hormones, Homocystein, Serum Lipids and Lipoproteins","authors":"S. Razavi, B. Moghaddas, E. Rakhshande, S. Nazifi","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.151.159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.151.159","url":null,"abstract":"Tropical theileriosis of cattle is a common tick-borne disease in tropical and subtropical regions and is recognized as a disease of major economic importance. This study aimed to determine whether Theileria annulata infection influences the plasma homocystein (Hcy), thyroid activity and serum lipid status in infected cattle. Fifty crossbred Holstein cattle, naturally infected with Theileria annulata were selected and divided into 3 subgroups according to their parasitemia rates (<2, 2-4, 4-8%). Also, 10 non-infected cattle were assigned as controls. Blood samples were collected and hematological parameters, plasma Homocystein (Hcy), thyroid hormones (T3, T4, free T3 (fT3) and free T4 (fT4)) and the concentrations of serum lipid and lipoproteins (cholesterol, triglyceride and lipoproteins including HDL, LDL and VLDL cholesterol) and phosphatidylserine (PS) on erythrocytes were measured. According to the results, significant elevations were observed in the concentration of plasma Hcy (hyperhomocysteinemia) in the infected groups compared to controls. In addition, we conclude that T. annulata can interfere with the lipid metabolism, which is particularly characterized by substantial decreases in the levels of cholesterol, LDL and HDL in the serum of affected animals. In spite of remarkable influences of the parasite on Hcy and lipid contents of the serum, our study proved that tropical theileriosis did not affect the thyroid hormones during parasitemia. This study demonstrates that the infection of cattle with Theileria annulata is mainly characterized by the anemia. Also, evidenced elevation in the level of homocystein (hyperhomocysteinemia) in parasitized cattle can result in oxidative stress on erythrocytes and the probable endothelial injuries. In addition, T. annulata can induce failure in lipid metabolism which is particularly featured by a decrease in the cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol concentrations; however the parasite cannot implement significant influences on the thyroid hormones in the affected cattle.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132402532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diagnosis of Leishmania infantum using Direct Agglutination Test and rKE16 Dipstick Rapid Test in Domestic Dogs from Ardabil Province, Iran","authors":"P. Ghaffarine, M. Farahmand, H. Nahrevania, M. Mohebali, F. Zaboli, Z. Zarei, B. Akhoundi, M. Barati, F. Ghasemi","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.102.110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.102.110","url":null,"abstract":"Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease, caused by several Leishmania species. Clinical symptoms range from Cutaneous Lesions (CL) to severe Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL). The main cause of VL in Iran is Leishmania infantum and domestic dogs are the major reservoir host. Different methods are used for diagnosis of VL including the parasitology staining from tissue aspiration and determination of antibodies against VL. The aim of this study was to compare direct agglutination (DAT) and rKE16 dipstick rapid tests for VL in domestic dogs from Meshkin Shahr district, Ardabil Province, Northwestern Iran. Blood samples of 200 dogs from five different regions were collected and their sera tested with DAT and rKE16 methods. Collected data were compared for VL detection, antibody titers and their association with age, gender and location. The highest rate of infection was detected by DAT (24.5%) in compare to rKE16 (11.5%). Majority of dogs suffering from VL were 2-7 years old and more male infection (82%) was observed with the highest rate in Parikhan village. These findings showed that DAT has a higher sensitivity than rKE16 dipstick for dogs VL detection. More infection was observed among dogs from Parikhan village of Meshkin Shahr district, Ardabil province, Northwestern Iran.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129591958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Occurrence of Anisakis Larvae in Commercial Fish along the Northern Coast of Taiwan","authors":"Jui‐Sen Yang, Yunqiu Chen, Chun-Chun Wu","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.79.91","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.79.91","url":null,"abstract":"Anisakis larvae of three commercial fish species, including Trichiurus lepturus, Scomber japonicus and Trachurus japonicus, found in the ocean North of Taiwan, were examined. The morphology of the larvae was analyzed using light and scanning electron microscopes, the population dynamics (including prevalence, mean intensity and abundance) were studied and the molecular characteristics of the Anisakid nematodes were identified. The annual prevalence of the larvae in T. lepturus, S. japonicus and T. japonicus were 91, 39 and 89%, respectively. Using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that the worms in the three species of fish showed no difference in morphological features. The Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) indicated that the larvae from the three species of fish belonged to a single species. However, using phylogenetic analysis in the molecular identification of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) domains ITS-1 (internal transcribed spacer 1) and ITS-2, the larvae in the three species of fish were not of a single species of Anisakis.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122640857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence of Malaria and Predisposing Factors to Antimalarial Drug Resistance in Southwestern Nigeria","authors":"G. Olasehinde, D. O. Ojurongbe, O. J. Akinjogunl, L. Egwari, A. Adeyeba","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.92.101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.92.101","url":null,"abstract":"High transmission rate and drug resistance have been implicated in the spread and re-emergence of malaria in areas where the disease had been eradicated. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of falciparum malaria and pre-disposing factors to malaria among patients presenting with fever in selected State Hospitals in Ogun State, Southwestern Nigeria. Four thousand and sixty six patients were recruited into this study. Scientific and Ethical clearance was obtained for this study. Blood samples were collected for malaria screening from the subjects. Structured questionnaires were administered to patients and parents of infants to determine the factors that could lead to the development of drug resistance by the parasite in the study population. Out of 4066 subjects screened during the study period, 61.1% were positive for falciparum malaria. Highest prevalence of 70.8% was recorded in children 1-5 years, also the group with highest parasitemia (1080). The study showed that 24.6% of the patient visited hospitals for treatment, 12% use local healers while 25.0% bought antimalarial drugs without prescription. Moreover, some subjects use more than one method in their management of malaria. Those who combined antimalarial drugs with traditional medicine from local healers were 17.4%. Only 18% of the sample population used insecticide treated mosquito nets, 42.3% used window and door nets, while 13% did not employ any mosquito preventive method. Uncontrolled use of drugs and exposure of parasites to the drugs should be monitored in areas where the parasite is still sensitive to the drug.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114962832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative Assessment of Microscopy and Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) as Malaria Diagnostic Tools","authors":"Oyetunde T. Oyeyemi, A. F. Ogunlade, I. Oyewole","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.120.126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.120.126","url":null,"abstract":"Management of malaria requires prompt diagnosis of malaria by microscopy, Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs), or other available tools. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of RDT and microscopy in detection of malaria parasite in a malaria endemic area of Nigeria among different population groups. The cross sectional study was conducted on 251 febrile patients who were directed to the laboratory department for blood screening for malaria parasites at Ogunlade Hospital, Ijebu Ode, Ogun state. Blood samples were collected and screened for malaria parasites microscopically and by using First Response RDT. The prevalence of malaria obtained through microscopy (66.8%) was significantly higher than in RDT (36.8%) (p<0.05). Considering microscopy as the gold standard, RDT exhibited high specificity (87.1%) and low sensitivity (42.5%) with positive predictive and negative predictive values of 86.6 and 43.5%, respectively. The sensitivity of RDT increased significantly with increase in P. falciparum parasitaemia (p<0.0001). The routine microscopy test demonstrated a superior sensitivity compared to First Response RDT method of malaria diagnosis, however, RDT could be a useful tool in individuals suspected to show high degree of disease spectrum for quick intervention in order to avert danger associated with delayed diagnosis.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130751421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In vitro Effect of Mefloquine on Adult Schistosoma mansoni","authors":"O. Abou-Shady, S. Mohammed, S. Attia, Hebat-Allah Salah Yusuf, D. Helmy","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.111.119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.111.119","url":null,"abstract":"Schistosomiasis is a chronic disease that infects over 200 million people worldwide. The treatment and control of schistosomiasis largely depends on a single drug, praziquantel that might result in emergence of drug resistant parasites. Consequently, developing new drugs is a true need. The anti-malarial drug mefloquine has shown schistosomicidal activity. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of mefloquine against adult S. mansoni using in vitro approach. Ten laboratory bred mice were infected with S. mansoni cercariae. After 56 days, mice were sacrificed and adult Schistosoma were collected by perfusion. The in vitro approach consisted of placing adult Schistosoma worms in culture plates containing 100, 10 and 1 µg mLG 1 mefloquine and incubating the plates at 37°C for 24 h. The length and maximum width of adult Schistosoma were measured and LC50 and LC90 of mefloquine and praziquantel were calculated. The results showed that the LC 50 for mefloquine and praziquantel were 3.961 and 6.675 µg mLG 1 , respectively. The LC 90 for mefloquine was 7.332 µg mLG 1 while that of praziquantel was 8.695 µg mLG 1 . A statistically significant reduction in length and maximum width in adult worms treated with mefloquine was observed. Mefloquine exerted promising in vitro effects on adult S. mansoni worms.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133985511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of PCR and Serologic Survey for Diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis in Sheep","authors":"R. Shaapan, Omnia M Kandil, S. Nassar","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.66.72","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.66.72","url":null,"abstract":"Comparative diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection in sheep were carried out with PCR and some serological assays using 200 blood and serum samples collected from sheep of different ages and sexes slaughtered in the main abattoir in Cairo and Giza, Egypt. PCR showed the higher prevalence of toxoplasmosis (48.5%) followed by the Modified Agglutination Test (MAT) (45.5%) and the Latex Agglutination Test (LAT) (41.0%), while the lowest prevalence was detected with the Indirect Hem-Agglutination Test (IHAT) (38.5%). When the data of the serological tests were compared with that of the PCR, as a reference test for toxoplasmosis, MAT had the highest sensitivity (95.9%) followed by LAT (90.7%) and the lowest sensitivity by IHAT (80.4%). On the other hand IHAT had the highest specificity (91.3%) followed by MAT (88.3%) and the lowest specificity was by LAT (84.5%). The present study adopt PCR and serological survey of T. gondii antibodies in sheep by using more sensitive and specific antigens prepared from isolated T. gondii local strain and the obtained results suggests that MAT alone or with LAT can be used as a highly sensitive screening test followed by PCR as a specific confirmatory test for diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in sheep. Consequently, the high prevalence of sheep toxoplasmosis detected by this study scopes the public health significance of sheep’s meat as source of human infection.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"1588 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129184591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence and Association of Parasitic Helminths among the Cross Section of Male and Female Gender Groups at University of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana","authors":"Jonathan K. Wrights, A. Ansar, K. Sukhraj","doi":"10.3923/JP.2015.50.57","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3923/JP.2015.50.57","url":null,"abstract":"The acquisition of epidemiological information on the type and prevalence of helminths in any geographic location would be very relevant in the development of control techniques that would be advantageous as a contributing factor on the general health status of the population. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and association of helminths among the two gender groups at the University of Guyana. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a total of 36 participants that provided stool samples to be examined for helminths. The stool samples were examined using the normal saline wet mount and formalin ether sedimentation technique. The study was carried out during February-July, 2014. The data was analyzed for statistical significance using the chi-squar test. The study found that 72.2% of the sample population investigated were positive for at least one helminth, with the most prevalent helminth identified being Enterobius vermicularis (55.5%). Of the total positive stool sample, 41.6% had single infection, followed by 25.0% with double infection and triple and quadruple infection had 2.8%. The gender distinction showed 52.8% females and 47.2% males, however, it is statically insignificant. Hence, based on these findings it is clear to say that there is a prevalence of helminths among the student population at University of Guyana.","PeriodicalId":364497,"journal":{"name":"Research Journal of Parasitology","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123903282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}