RESUMO
Rural children are one of the populations that are most vulnerable to gastrointestinal parasite infections. Such diseases decrease the quality of life and result in growth and cognitive delays in the long term. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the frequency of intestinal parasite infections among rural schoolchildren in the municipality of Apulo, Colombia. A total of 97 stool samples from children aged between 5 and 15 years were collected and examined via direct light microscopy. Microscopic examination was repeated with sediments obtained using a fecal parasite concentrator, and the Kato-Katz test was performed. Frequency of intestinal parasite infection was 100%. Endolimax nana (77.35%), Blastocystis sp. (71.1%), Giardia intestinalis (39.1%), Entamoeba coli (25.7%), and the Entamoeba histolytica/dispar/moshkovskii complex (9.2%) were the most prevalent protozoa. Trichuris trichiura was the most prevalent helminth (12.3%), followed by Enterobius vermicularis (6.15%) and Ascaris lumbricoides (5.1%). Among the analyzed associated factors, consumption of untreated water increased the risk of acquiring pathogenic intestinal parasites. Finally, because G. intestinalis was the most prevalent pathogenic protozoan, molecular analysis was conducted to establish genetic assemblages and subassemblages of Giardia through sequence-based genotyping of the glutamate dehydrogenase, triose phosphate isomerase, and beta-giardin genes. A total of 14 G. intestinalis-positive samples were genotyped, which revealed the presence of subassemblages AI (n = 1), AII (n = 7), BIII (n = 2), BIV (n = 2), and BIII/BIV (n = 1) as well as a mixed subassemblage AII + BIII (n = 1). Our results indicate that gastrointestinal parasite infections in the tested population were mainly caused by suboptimal water quality. Moreover, molecular typing of G. intestinalis suggested contamination of water by animal- and human-derived cysts.
Assuntos
Água Potável/parasitologia , Fezes/parasitologia , Infecções por Nematoides/epidemiologia , Infecções por Protozoários/epidemiologia , Adolescente , Animais , Ascaris lumbricoides/classificação , Ascaris lumbricoides/isolamento & purificação , Blastocystis/classificação , Blastocystis/isolamento & purificação , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Colômbia/epidemiologia , Estudos Transversais , Endolimax/classificação , Endolimax/isolamento & purificação , Entamoeba/classificação , Entamoeba/isolamento & purificação , Enterobius/classificação , Enterobius/isolamento & purificação , Feminino , Giardia lamblia/classificação , Giardia lamblia/genética , Giardia lamblia/isolamento & purificação , Humanos , Higiene , Masculino , Infecções por Nematoides/parasitologia , Infecções por Nematoides/transmissão , Prevalência , Infecções por Protozoários/parasitologia , Infecções por Protozoários/transmissão , Qualidade de Vida , População Rural , Trichuris/classificação , Trichuris/isolamento & purificaçãoRESUMO
Two new species of Trypanoxyuris are described from the intestine of free-ranging howler monkeys in Mexico, Trypanoxyuris multilabiatus n. sp. from the mantled howler Alouatta palliata, and Trypanoxyuris pigrae n. sp. from the black howler Alouatta pigra. An integrative taxonomic approach is followed, where conspicuous morphological traits and phylogenetic trees based on DNA sequences are used to test the validity of the two new species. The mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene, and the nuclear ribosomal 18S and 28S rRNA genes were used for evolutionary analyses, with the concatenated dataset of all three genes used for maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses. The two new species of pinworms from howler monkeys were morphologically distinct and formed reciprocally monophyletic lineages in molecular phylogenetic trees. The three species from howler monkeys, T. multilabiatus n. sp., T. pigrae n. sp., and Trypanoxyuris minutus, formed a monophyletic group with high bootstrap and posterior probability support values. Phylogenetic patterns inferred from sequence data support the hypothesis of a close evolutionary association between these primate hosts and their pinworm parasites. The results suggest that the diversity of pinworm parasites from Neotropical primates might be underestimated.
Assuntos
Alouatta/parasitologia , Enterobíase/veterinária , Enterobius/classificação , Intestinos/parasitologia , Doenças dos Macacos/parasitologia , Animais , Sequência de Bases , DNA de Helmintos/genética , Complexo IV da Cadeia de Transporte de Elétrons/genética , Enterobíase/parasitologia , Enterobius/genética , Feminino , Interações Hospedeiro-Parasita , Masculino , México , Filogenia , RNA Ribossômico 18S/genética , RNA Ribossômico 28S/genética , Análise de Sequência de DNARESUMO
Paleoparasitology is the science that uses parasitological techniques for diagnosing parasitic diseases in the past. Advances in molecular biology brought new insights into this field allowing the study of archaeological material. However, due to technical limitations a proper diagnosis and confirmation of the presence of parasites is not always possible, especially in scarce and degraded archaeological remains. In this study, we developed a Molecular Paleoparasitological Hybridization (MPH) approach using ancient DNA (aDNA) hybridization to confirm and complement paleoparasitological diagnosis. Eight molecular targets from four helminth parasites were included: Ascaris sp., Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis, and Strongyloides stercoralis. The MPH analysis using 18th century human remains from Praça XV cemetery (CPXV), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, revealed for the first time the presence E. vermicularis aDNA (50%) in archaeological sites of Brazil. Besides, the results confirmed T. trichiura and Ascaris sp. infections. The prevalence of infection by Ascaris sp. and E. vermicularis increased considerably when MPH was applied. However, a lower aDNA detection of T. trichiura (40%) was observed when compared to the diagnosis by paleoparasitological analysis (70%). Therefore, based on these data, we suggest a combination of Paleoparasitological and MPH approaches to verify the real panorama of intestinal parasite infection in human archeological samples.
Assuntos
Ascaris/genética , DNA de Helmintos/genética , Enterobius/genética , Helmintíase/história , Enteropatias Parasitárias/história , Strongyloides stercoralis/genética , Trichuris/genética , Animais , Antropologia/métodos , Ascaris/classificação , Brasil , Cemitérios , DNA de Helmintos/isolamento & purificação , Enterobius/classificação , Exumação , Helmintíase/diagnóstico , Helmintíase/parasitologia , História do Século XVIII , Humanos , Hibridização Genética , Enteropatias Parasitárias/diagnóstico , Enteropatias Parasitárias/parasitologia , Parasitologia/métodos , Strongyloides stercoralis/classificação , Trichuris/classificaçãoRESUMO
Host specificity is one of the potential factors affecting parasite diversification because gene flow may be facilitated or constrained by the number of host species that a parasite can exploit. We test this hypothesis using a costructure approach, comparing two sympatric pinworm parasites that differ in host specificity - Parapharyngodon cubensis and Spauligodon anolis - on the Puerto Rican Bank and St. Croix in the Caribbean. Spauligodon anolis specializes on Anolis lizards, whereas P. cubensis parasitizes Anolis lizards as well as many other species of lizards and snakes. We collected lizards from across the Puerto Rican Bank and St. Croix, sampled them for S. anolis and P. cubensis and generated nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data from the parasites. We used these data to show that P. cubensis is comprised of multiple cryptic species that exhibit limited population structure relative to S. anolis, which is consistent with our prediction based on their host specificity. We also provide evidence that the distribution of P. cubensis species is maintained by competitive exclusion, and in contrast to previous theoretical work, the parasites with the greatest number of host species also reach the highest prevalence rates. Overall, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that host specificity shapes parasite diversification, and suggest that even moderate differences in host specificity may contribute to substantial differences in diversification.
Assuntos
Enterobius/genética , Genética Populacional , Especificidade de Hospedeiro , Lagartos/parasitologia , Animais , Teorema de Bayes , Núcleo Celular/genética , DNA Mitocondrial/genética , Enterobius/classificação , Variação Genética , Modelos Genéticos , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Porto Rico , Ilhas Virgens AmericanasRESUMO
Enterobius vermicularis, pinworm, is one of the most common helminths worldwide, infecting nearly a billion people at all socio-economic levels. In prehistoric populations the paleoparasitological findings show a pinworm homogeneous distribution among hunter-gatherers in North America, intensified with the advent of agriculture. This same increase also occurred in the transition from nomad hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers in South America, although E. vermicularis infection encompasses only the ancient Andean peoples, with no record among the pre-Colombian populations in the South American lowlands. However, the outline of pinworm paleoepidemiology has been supported by microscopic finding of eggs recovered from coprolites. Since molecular techniques are precise and sensitive in detecting pathogen ancient DNA (aDNA), and also could provide insights into the parasite evolutionary history, in this work we have performed a molecular paleoparasitological study of E. vermicularis. aDNA was recovered and pinworm 5S rRNA spacer sequences were determined from pre-Columbian coprolites (4110 BC-AD 900) from four different North and South American archaeological sites. The sequence analysis confirmed E. vermicularis identity and revealed a similarity among ancient and modern sequences. Moreover, polymorphisms were identified at the relative positions 160, 173 and 180, in independent coprolite samples from Tulán, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (1080-950 BC). We also verified the presence of peculiarities (Splicing leader (SL1) RNA sequence, spliced donor site, the Sm antigen biding site, and RNA secondary structure) which characterise the SL1 RNA gene. The analysis shows that the SL1 RNA gene of contemporary pinworms was present in pre-Columbian E. vermicularis by 6110 years ago. We were successful in detecting E. vermicularis aDNA even in coprolites without direct microscopic evidence of the eggs, improving the diagnosis of helminth infections in the past and further pinworm paleoepidemiological studies.