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International Journal of Molecular... Aug 2023Globally, over 3.5 billion people are infected with intestinal parasites each year, resulting in over 200,000 deaths. Three of the most common protozoan pathogens that...
Globally, over 3.5 billion people are infected with intestinal parasites each year, resulting in over 200,000 deaths. Three of the most common protozoan pathogens that affect the gastrointestinal tract of humans are spp., , and . Other protozoan agents that have been implicated in gastroenteritis in humans include , , , and the microsporidia and . Genetic Signatures previously developed a 3base™ multiplexed Real-Time PCR (mRT-PCR) enteric protozoan kit (EP001) for the detection of //, spp., , . , and . We now describe improvements to this kit to produce a more comprehensive assay, including , , and , termed EP005. The clinical performance of EP005 was assessed using a set of 380 clinical samples against a commercially available PCR test and other in-house nucleic acid amplification tests where commercial tests were not available. All methods provided at least 90% agreement. EP005 had no cross-reactivity against 82 organisms commonly found in the gut. The EP005 method streamlines the detection of gastrointestinal parasites and addresses the many challenges of traditional microscopic detection, resulting in cost savings and significant improvements in patient care.
Topics: Humans; Cryptosporidiosis; Cryptosporidium; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Communicable Diseases; Protozoan Infections; Giardia lamblia
PubMed: 37686192
DOI: 10.3390/ijms241713387 -
Microbial Pathogenesis Dec 2023The prevalence of Blastocystis sp., its genetic diversity and the distribution of circulating subtypes (STs) were molecularly investigated in a cohort of autochthonous...
The prevalence of Blastocystis sp., its genetic diversity and the distribution of circulating subtypes (STs) were molecularly investigated in a cohort of autochthonous and immigrant patients with gastrointestinal symptoms hospitalized over the period February 2022-June 2023 at the Policlinico Ospedaliero-Universitario "Riuniti", Foggia, in Southern Italy. The population variables, including patient geographical origin, gender and age classes were reported. Out of the 927 investigated patients, 36 (3.9%) were positive for Blastocystis sp. A statistically significant association with African origin and age classes >18 years old was found. ST1 (allele 4), ST2 (alleles 9, 13), ST3 (alleles 34, 36) and ST4 (allele 92) were the subtypes detected with a different distribution between autochthonous and immigrant patients. Co-infections with enteric protozoa such as Giardia duodenalis and Dientamoeba fragilis, pathogenic bacteria as Clostridioides difficile, Campylobacter jejuni and Aeromonas sp. and viral infections such as Norovirus were found in 33% of cases. This is the first study of Blastocystis sp., its circulating subtypes and allele variability among patients with different geographical origin in an area of Southern Italy, in the Central Mediterranean, characterized by high immigrant pressure. These results provide baseline data to better investigate a potential interaction between Blastocystis sp. and other risk factors in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Blastocystis; Blastocystis Infections; Prevalence; Genetic Variation; Italy; Emigrants and Immigrants; Feces; Phylogeny
PubMed: 37839760
DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2023.106377 -
Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 2021
Comparison of five commercial real-time PCRs for in-vitro diagnosis of Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium spp., Cyclospora cayetanensis, and Dientamoeba fragilis in human stool samples.
Topics: Cryptosporidiosis; Cryptosporidium; Cyclospora; Dientamoeba; Entamoeba histolytica; Feces; Giardia lamblia; Giardiasis; Humans; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
PubMed: 33812018
DOI: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2021.102042 -
Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za... Jun 2023To investigate the prevalence of parasitic infections in human stool samples from a hospital in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, so as to provide insights into the...
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of parasitic infections in human stool samples from a hospital in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, so as to provide insights into the management of intestinal parasitic diseases.
METHODS
Stool samples were collected from patients admitted to a hospital in Chenzhou City from September 2020 to March 2021, subjected to physiological saline smearing and microscopy for detection of intestinal parasites. The prevalence of parasitic infections and the species of parasites were descriptively analyzed.
RESULTS
The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was 1.61% in the 10 728 stool samples, and there were 3 samples with mixed infections of two parasite species. A total of seven parasite species were identified, including (162 cases, 1.55%), (5 cases, 0.05%), (5 cases, 0.05%), (one case, 0.01%), (one case, 0.01%), (one case, 0.01%) and (one case, 0.01%). The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was significantly higher among women than in men (2.14% vs. 1.25%; χ = 13.01, < 0.01), and a high prevalence rate was seen among patients at ages of 20 to 30 years (2.99%) and 80 years and older (2.86%); however, no age-specific prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was detected (χ = 12.45, > 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was low among patients admitted to a hospital in Chenzhou City, and gender-specific prevalence was found. Food-borne and opportunistic parasites were predominant intestinal parasites, including , and .
Topics: Animals; Female; Humans; Male; Feces; Hospitals; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic; Parasites; Prevalence; Young Adult; Adult; Aged, 80 and over
PubMed: 37455102
DOI: 10.16250/j.32.1374.2022211 -
Microorganisms Sep 2022The Kogui tribe is an indigenous population living in Colombia. The prevalence values of some enteric bacteria, parasites and microsporidia in Kogui stool samples ( 192)...
The Kogui tribe is an indigenous population living in Colombia. The prevalence values of some enteric bacteria, parasites and microsporidia in Kogui stool samples ( 192) were assessed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thus, genus- or species-specifically recorded positivity rates among the Kogui community were assessed. Protozoa were the leading microorganisms in the stool samples of the Kogui, with an average of 1.5 pathogens per sample, followed by bacteria, with 0.6 pathogens per samples and helminths, with 0.3 pathogens per sample. Microsporidia were not detected. Thereby, the majority of detected protozoa comprised species with questionable etiological relevance such as ( 173) and ( 44), but also a considerable proportion of ( 71). spp., in contrast, was found in a single instance only. The majority of recorded bacteria were spp., with a strikingly high proportion of 50% ( 96), followed by spp./enteroinvasive (EIEC) ( 14) and spp. ( = 4). The quantitatively most important detected helminths were spp. ( = 15), spp. ( = 14) and ( = 12), followed by ( = 6), spp. ( = 3) and ( = 3) in descending order of abundance. As expected, the Kogui people's living conditions comprising poverty, lack of access to clean water and simple housing favor a high number of gastrointestinal infections. Preventive approaches are needed to reduce their risk of infection.
PubMed: 36144464
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10091862 -
Turkiye Parazitolojii Dergisi Sep 2022This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of intestinal parasites in refugee and native patients who applied to a territory hospital in Turkey.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of intestinal parasites in refugee and native patients who applied to a territory hospital in Turkey.
METHODS
A total of 17911 patients who were admitted to our hospital between January 2018 and January 2019 were evaluated retrospectively in terms of intestinal parasites. The patients' stool samples were investigated for the existence of intestinal parasites by direct wet mount preparation, formalin ether concentration technique and cellophane tape method. The data obtained were compared between patient groups according to the examination method.
RESULTS
The overall prevalence of in refugee children was found twice higher than that in native patients and the most common symptom was abdominal pain in these patients. Intestinal parasite detection rates were significantly higher in the stool concentration method than in the direct wet mount examination. Cutaneous complaints and protein energy malnutrition/growth retardation were the most common clinical conditions besides gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with intestinal parasitosis.
CONCLUSION
In our study, the prevalence of sp. in refugees was found to be higher than in the normal population. Intestinal parasitic infections should be investigated with proper diagnostic methods especially in children with PEM/GR and cutaneous symptoms in addition to gastrointestinal problems.
Topics: Animals; Child; Hospitals; Humans; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic; Parasites; Refugees; Retrospective Studies; Turkey
PubMed: 36094118
DOI: 10.4274/tpd.galenos.2022.72691 -
Microorganisms May 2021Several parasite species are shared between humans and pigs. We explored the application of next-generation sequencing-based metabarcoding supplemented with real-time...
Several parasite species are shared between humans and pigs. We explored the application of next-generation sequencing-based metabarcoding supplemented with real-time PCR to fecal DNAs from 259 samples from 116 pigs in Denmark to detect and differentiate single-celled intestinal parasites of zoonotic relevance. , , and were observed in 34/37 (92%), 148/259 (57%), and 86/259 (33%) samples, respectively. ST1, ST3, and were detected in 104/259 (40%), 161/259 (62%), and 8/259 (3%) samples, respectively. Metabarcoding and real-time PCR detected in 90/259 (35%) and 239/259 (92%) of the samples, respectively, with and observed in nearly equal proportions. subtypes 1, 3, 5, and 15 were found in 72 (28%), 6 (2%), 176 (68%), and 36 (14%) of 259 samples, respectively. was identified in 1/259 samples (<1%), while none of 37 tested samples was positive for . Our results illustrate how metabarcoding exemplifies a 'one-fits-many' approach to detecting intestinal single-celled parasites in feces supplemented with real-time PCR for selected parasites. Using metabarcoding with pathogen-specific assays may help detect emerging and previously underdetected pathogens and further elucidate the role of micro-eukaryotic parasites in human and animal health and disease.
PubMed: 34073014
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9061189 -
Journal of Infection in Developing... Oct 2019Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) which develops without a known stimulation is defined as the occurrence of spontaneous wheals, angioedema or both for longer than six...
INTRODUCTION
Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) which develops without a known stimulation is defined as the occurrence of spontaneous wheals, angioedema or both for longer than six weeks. Infections, autoimmunity, food intolerance and internal parasitic infections are supposed to be underlying causes of CSU. The aim of this study was to evaluate the intestinal parasites in children and adult patients diagnosed as CSU, to determine the frequency of parasites in chronic urticaria, and to compare these patients with healthy demographic control groups.
METHODOLOGY
Seventy six children and 38 adult patients with CSU were examined in terms of parasitic infections. The patients whom parasites were detected received anti-parasitic therapy and the improvements in CSU symptoms were evaluated. Stool samples were examined with direct microscopic examination (native-lugol), stool concentration and trichrome staining methods.
RESULTS
In pediatric patient group, 18.4% (n = 14) of the stool samples were positive for Blastocystis sp., 2.6% (n = 2), Dientamoeba fragilis and 1.3% (n = 1), Giardia duodenalis. In adult patient group, Blastocystis sp. was detected in 18.4% (n = 7) of the stool samples. Anti-parasitic therapy yielded substantial improvement in urticaria symptoms in 57.1% of pediatric and 60.0% of adult patients.
CONCLUSIONS
Blastocystis sp. and D. fragilis may play a role in chronic urticaria which seriously disrupts the patient's quality of life. Parasitic infections should not be neglected in patients with cutaneous manifestations.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Antiparasitic Agents; Blastocystis; Child; Child, Preschool; Chronic Urticaria; Dientamoeba; Eosinophils; Female; Giardia lamblia; Humans; Immunoglobulin E; Infant; Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic; Male; Metronidazole; Middle Aged; Turkey; Young Adult
PubMed: 32084024
DOI: 10.3855/jidc.11552 -
Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2024spp., and are species of protozoa- causing diarrhoea that are common worldwide, while , and sp. appear to be commensal parasites whose role in pathogenicity remains...
spp., and are species of protozoa- causing diarrhoea that are common worldwide, while , and sp. appear to be commensal parasites whose role in pathogenicity remains controversial. We conducted the clinical evaluation of five singleplex and one duplex CerTest VIASURE Real-Time PCR Assays against a large panel of positive DNA samples ( = 358), and specifically to spp. ( = 96), ( = 115), ( = 25) ( = 11), sp. ( = 42), ( = 37), and related parasitic phylum species such as Apicomplexa, Euglenozoa, Microsporidia and Nematoda. DNA samples were obtained from clinical stool specimens or cultured isolates in a national reference centre. Estimated diagnostic sensitivity and specificity values were 0.94-1 for spp., 0.96-0.99 for , 0.96-1 for , 1-1 for , and 1-0.99 for in the evaluated singleplex assays. In the duplex assay for the simultaneous detection of sp. and these values were 1-0.98 and 1-0.99, respectively. Measures of diagnostic precision for repeatability and reproducibility were found to be under acceptable ranges. The assays identified six species (, , , , , and ), four assemblages (A, B, C, and F), and six subtypes (ST1-ST5, and ST8). The evaluated singleplex and duplex VIASURE Real-Time PCR assays provide sensitive, practical, and cost-effective choices to the molecular diagnosis of the main diarrhoea-causing intestinal protists in clinical microbiology and research laboratories.
PubMed: 38337835
DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics14030319 -
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Nov 2021Despite the global use of rotavirus vaccines, vaccine breakthrough cases remain a pediatric health problem. In this study, we investigated suspected rotavirus vaccine...
Despite the global use of rotavirus vaccines, vaccine breakthrough cases remain a pediatric health problem. In this study, we investigated suspected rotavirus vaccine breakthrough cases using next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based viral metagenomics ( = 102) and a panel of semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-qPCR) ( = 92) targeting known enteric pathogens. Overall, we identified coinfections in 80% of the cases. Enteropathogens such as adenovirus (32%), enterovirus (15%), diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (1 to 14%), astrovirus (10%), spp. (10%), parechovirus (9%), norovirus (9%), Clostridioides (formerly ) difficile (9%), Dientamoeba fragilis (9%), sapovirus (8%), Campylobacter jejuni (4%), and Giardia lamblia (4%) were detected. Except for a few reassortant rotavirus strains, unusual genotypes or genotype combinations were not present. However, in addition to well-known enteric viruses, divergent variants of enteroviruses and nonclassic astroviruses were identified using NGS. We estimated that in 31.5% of the patients, rotavirus was likely not the cause of gastroenteritis, and in 14.1% of the patients, it contributed together with another pathogen(s) to disease. The remaining 54.4% of the patients likely had a true vaccine breakthrough infection. The high prevalence of alternative enteropathogens in the suspected rotavirus vaccine breakthrough cases suggests that gastroenteritis is often the result of a coinfection and that rotavirus vaccine effectiveness might be underestimated in clinical and epidemiological studies.
Topics: Child; Feces; Humans; Prevalence; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Rotavirus Vaccines
PubMed: 34586890
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.01236-21