Monoclonal antibody specific for an epitope of cretory-secretory antigen protein of Opisthorchis felineus (Rivolta, 1884) (Trematoda: Opisthorchiidae) with a molecular weight of 28 kDa was used in a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for immobilisation of liver fluke specific antigen to the solid phase. Examination of human sera by this ELISA compared with commercial assays demonstrated that the monoclonal antibody epitope is located within this significant parasite protein. Anti-idiotypic antibody specific for the paratope of this monoclonal antibody was obtained by a hybridoma technique. Mimicking an epitope of excretory-secretory antigen of O. felineus, it had the capacity to bind specific antibody and elicit an antibody response. The value of anti-idiotypic antibody as a substitute for the liver fluke antigen was tested by ELISA using serum samples of infected dogs. Anti-idiotypic antibody proved to be of value in both an indirect-ELISA and a competitive-ELISA for diagnosis of opisthorchiasis. Mature trematodes were isolated from all infected animals. The faecal egg counts were negative in dogs with a relatively small number of parasites, despite finding antibodies in serum by ELISA. Substitution of parasite antigen with anti-idiotype avoids the use of experimental animals and also reduces time-consuming steps of antigen preparation., Aitbay K. Bulashev, Sergey N. Borovikov, Shynar S. Serikova, Zhanbolat A. Suranshiev, Vladimir S. Kiyan, Saule Z. Eskendirova., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Former authors claimed that, due to parasites' aggregated distribution, small samples underestimate the true population mean abundance. Here we show that this claim is false or true, depending on what is meant by 'underestimate' or, mathematically speaking, how we define 'bias'. The 'how often' and 'on average' views lead to different conclusions because sample mean abundance itself exhibits an aggregated distribution: most often it falls slightly below the true population mean, while sometimes greatly exceeds it. Since the several small negative deviations are compensated by a few greater positive ones, the average of sample means approximates the true population mean., Jenő Reiczigel, Lajos Rózsa., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Knowledge of blood parasites in Brazilian chelonians is limited, since they have been recorded in only six species. Mesoclemmys vanderhaegei (Bour) is a freshwater turtle with a wide geographic distribution in Brazil, but there is little information about its natural history. This paper reports on a study of the prevalence and infection intensity of a haemogregarine in two subpopulations of M. vanderhaegei. The study was conducted in two areas of Cerrado in the Upper Paraguay River basin in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, between November 2010 and August 2013. Ninety-five (53%) of the 179 turtles captured were positive for haemogregarine parasites. The parasitic forms observed were two morphotypes of intraerythrocytic gametocytes. The prevalence differed between size classes, increasing significantly according to the animals' body size. There was no significant difference between prevalence and sex, or between sampling periods. The mean parasite intensity was 9 parasites/2,000 erythrocytes (0.45%) and the parasite population presented an aggregated distribution, with an aggregation index of 19 and discrepancy of 0.772. This is the first record of a hemoparasite in the freshwater turtle M. vanderhaegei., Vinícius C. Goes, Elizângela S. Brito, Rafael M. Valadão, Camila O. Gutierrez, Amanda M. Picelli, Lúcio A. Viana., and Obsahuje bibliografii
During an ongoing systematic survey on species diversity of myxozoans parasitising allogynogenetic gibel carp Carassius auratus gibelio (Bloch) in China, plasmodia were detected in the fins, lip, jaw, gill chamber, gill arches, operculum and oral cavity of infected fish. Combining the morphological and molecular data, the present species was identified as Myxobolus turpisrotundus Zhang, Wang, Li et Gong, 2010. Histopathological examination revealed that despite infecting different organs, M. turpisrotundus always occurred in dermis, demonstrating its affinity to this tissue. Histopathological effect of M. turpisrotundus on the host is relatively mild except parasites in the gill arches producing compression of the adipose tissue and heavy adductor muscles deformation with lymphohistiocytic infiltrates. In addition, the plasmodia in different sites were with the same complex structure arrangement: cup-like cells with unknown derivation, a thin collagenous fibril layer, areolar connective tissue, basement membrane and host epithelial cell. Ultrastructural analysis showed that the parasite has monosporic pansporoblast and sporogenesis followed the usual pattern of most of the myxosporeans., Qingxiang Guo, Yanhua Zhai, Zemao Gu, Yang Liu., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Migratory birds have an important role in transporting ticks and associated tick-borne pathogens over long distances. In this study, 2,793 migratory birds were captured by nets in a ringing station, located in northern Italy, and checked for the presence of ticks. Two-hundred and fifty-one ticks were identified as nymphs and larvae of Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758) and they were PCR-screened for the presence of bacteria belonging to Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Rickettsia spp., Francisella tularensis and Coxiella burnetii. Four species of Borrelia (B. garinii, B. afzelii, B. valaisiana and B. lusitaniae) and three species of Rickettsia (R. monacensis, R. helvetica and Candidatus Rickettsia mendelii) were detected in 74 (30%) and 25 (10%) respectively out of 251 ticks examined. Co-infection with Borrelia spp. and Rickettsia spp. in the same tick sample was encountered in 7 (7%) out of the 99 infected ticks. We report for the first time the presence of Candidatus Rickettsia mendelii in I. ricinus collected on birds in Italy. This study, besides confirming the role of birds in dispersal of I. ricinus, highlights an important route by which tick-borne pathogens might spread across different countries and from natural environments towards urbanised areas., Massimo Pajoro, Dario Pistone, Ilaria Varotto Boccazzi, Valeria Mereghetti, Claudio Bandi, Massimo Fabbi, Francesco Scattorin, Davide Sassera, Matteo Montagna., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The taxonomy of Diplectanum Diesing, 1858, a genus of monopisthocotylean monogeneans, remains unsettled and needs to be revised based on new morphological criteria. Recent studies in monopisthocotyleans have shown that the muscle arrangement in the posterior attachment organ (haptor) differs between congeneric species and can be used as an additional criterion in genus-level taxonomy. To explore the possibility of using the haptoral musculature and nervous system in the taxonomy of Diplectanum, we conducted a detailed confocal-microscopy study of three species of Diplectanum (D. aculeatum Parona et Perugia, 1889, D. sciaenae van Beneden et Hesse, 1863 and D. similis Bychowsky, 1957) with phalloidin staining for muscle and indirect immunostaining for 5HT and FMRFamide. A further goal was to clarify the functional mechanics of the haptor and the role of its essential components (squamodiscs and anchors) in attachment to the host. The system of connecting bars and gaffing anchors was found to have a complex musculature consisting of 23 muscles in D. aculeatum and D. sciaenae, and 21 muscles in D. similis. The squamodiscs were shown to be operated by several groups of muscles attached primarily to the area termed the squamodisc fulcrum. Most of the haptoral musculature is identical in D. aculeatum and D. sciaenae and these species differ only in the presence of a muscle sheath around the tissue strand between the squamodiscs in D. sciaenae and in the different patterns of superficial squamodisc muscles. Diplectanum similis shows more significant differences from the other two species: besides lacking two of the haptoral muscles, it also differs in the shapes and arrangement of several other muscles. The nervous system of all three species conforms to the general pattern typical for the Dactylogyroidea and shows little variation between species., Anatoly A. Petrov, Evgenija V. Dmitrieva, Maryana P. Popyuk, Pavel I. Gerasev, Sergey A. Petrov., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Changes in behaviour and cognition have been associated with latent infection from the apicomplexan protozoan Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) in both animal and human studies. Further, neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia have also been associated with latent toxoplasmosis. Previously, we found no association between T. gondii immunoglobulin G antibody (IgG) seropositivity and depression in human adults between the ages of 20 and 39 years (n = 1 846) in a sample representative of the United States collected by the Centers for Disease Control as part of a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from three datasets collected between 1999-2004. In the present study, we used NHANES data collected between 2009 and 2012 that included subjects aged 20 to 80 years (n = 5 487) and used the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) to assess depression with the overall aim of testing the stability of the results of the prior study. In the current study, the seroprevalence of T. gondii was 13%. The percentage of subjects reporting clinical levels of depression assessed with the PHQ-9 was 8%. As before, we found no association between T. gondii IgG seroprevalence and depression (OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.81-1.25; p = 0.944) while controlling for sex, educational attainment, race-ethnicity, age, poverty-to-income ratio and cigarette smoking. We also found no positive associations between anti-T. gondii antibody titre and depression (OR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.96-1.06; p = 0.868). Moreover, we found no association between T. gondii seroprevalence or antibody titre and suicidal ideation (seroprevalence: OR = 1.22, 95% CI = .85-1.75; p = 0.277, titre: OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.98-1.14; p = 0.177)., Defining depression to also include subjects currently taking antidepressant medication even with non-elevated questionnaires did not find evidence of a positive association between latent toxoplasmosis and depression. In the present study, neither T. gondii seroprevalence nor anti-T. gondii antibody titre was positively associated with depression or suicidal ideation among subjects aged 20 to 80 years., Shawn D. Gale, Andrew N. Berrett, Bruce Brown, Lance D. Erickson, Dawson W. Hedges., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Fleas infecting northern white-breasted hedgehogs, Erinaceus roumanicus (Barrett-Hamilton), collected from 2009-2011 in Budapest (Hungary) were studied. A total of 305 white-breasted hedgehogs were captured and 1,251 fleas were collected. The flea community comprised two species, the hedgehog flea Archaeopsylla erinacei (Bouche, 1835) and the dog flea Ctenocephalides canis (Curtis, 1826), although the latter was only found on three hedgehogs. Fleas were found on half of the host specimens (51%; n = 156) where their distribution was strongly aggregated. The sex ratio of A. erinacei was biased towards females and was correlated with host size. Interestingly, the sex ratio of fleas became more equal on heavier hosts. It had been expected that, under high competition, the sex ratio would be female biased because it is known that female ectoparasites dominate on poorer hosts. The body size of a random sample of 200 fleas (100 female and 100 male) was measured under a microscope. The analyses showed directional asymmetry in two features - the distance between the top of the head and the eye, and head length. In this two body traits the left side was significantly greater than right side in both sexes of A. erinacei. Our data shed light on the complex nature of the flea population infecting northern white-breasted hedgehogs in an urban area., Krzysztof Dudek, Gábor Földvári, Viktória Majláthová, Igor Majláth, Krisztina Rigó, Viktor Molnár, Mária Tóth, Łukasz Jankowiak, Piotr Tryjanowski., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Thirty-two specimens of the Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti (Reptilia: Crocodylidae), from the Kruger National Park, South Africa, and its vicinity were examined for pentastomid parasites during 1995 to 1999 and 2010 to 2011. Pentastomid parasites occurred throughout the year and were widespread in the study area with an overall prevalence of 97% and an overall mean abundance of 23.4 (0-81). Pentastome assemblages comprised six species in three sebekid genera: Alofia nilotici Riley et Huchzermeyer, 1995, A. simpsoni Riley, 1994, Leiperia cincinnalis Sambon, 1922, Sebekia cesarisi Giglioli in Sambon, 1922, S. minor (Wedl, 1861) and S. okavangoensis Riley et Huchzermeyer, 1995. The possible influence of host age, gender and geographic location (river system) on pentastome prevalence, abundance and species richness was investigated. Generally, neither host age, gender nor locality did affect infracommunities, likely because all hosts examined were adult or subadult and displayed comparable foraging behaviour, resulting in similar exposure pathways to fish intermediate hosts. Additionally, the longevity of pentastomids would contribute to accumulative infections as hosts mature. Structuring of pentastome assemblages was observed in as far as S. minor was the dominant species based on overall prevalence and abundance, followed by the equally common species S. cesarisi and L. cincinnalis. With an overall prevalence ranging from 34% to 41% and relatively low abundances, A. nilotici, A. simpsoni and S. okavangoensis form the rarer component of pentastome communities., Kerstin Junker, Frikkie Calitz, Danny Govender, Boris R. Krasnov, Joop Boomker., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In the present study, we critically revised the recently proposed classification of the subfamily Leishmaniinae Maslov et Lukeš in Jirků et al., 2012. Agreeing with erection of the genus Zelonia Shaw, Camargo et Teixeira in Espinosa et al., 2017 and the subgenus Mundinia Shaw, Camargo et Teixeira in Espinosa et al., 2017 within the genus Leishmania Ross, 1908, we argue that other changes are not well justified. We propose to: (i) raise Paraleishmania Cupolillo, Medina-Acosta, Noyes, Momen et Grimaldi, 2000 to generic rank; (ii) create a new genus Borovskyia gen. n. to accommodate the former Leptomonas barvae Maslov et Lukeš, 2010 as its type and only species; (iii) leave the subfamily Leishmaniinae as originally defined, but establish two infrafamilies within it: Leishmaniatae infrafam. n. and Crithidiatae infrafam. n., Alexei Y. Kostygov, Vyacheslav Yurchenko., and Obsahuje bibliografii