Parasitology Research

Japanese quails Coturnix coturnix japonica reared in economic farms were individually investigated for coccidian infections. The results indicated the absence of infections in birds younger than 1 month. An Eimeria infection rate of up to 80% was detected in birds 7–9 weeks old with a general infection rate of 29%. The infection rate decreased to 21.42% in birds older than 10 weeks. Morphometric characteristics of freshly shed, unsporulated oocysts were taken. These oocysts appeared pale yellow in color, were oval to subspherical in shape being limited by a bilayered oocyst wall of 1.2 µm. The unsporulated oocysts measured 17.73 ± 12.92 × 12.79 ± 1.69 µm (mean of 100) and possessed a polar granule, a micropyle and an oocyst residuum. The sporulation took 72 h and resulted in the formation of four elongated sporocysts containing two sporozoites, in addition to a stieda body and a sporocyst residuum. The life cycle of this Eimeria species was followed in experimentally infected quails. Three asexual generations (at 60, 78, and 96 h p.i.) were detected in the epithelium of the small intestine before the sexual cycle started at 84 h p.i. The prepatent period was 5 days, while the patent period covered 6–7 days. Besides this well-defined species, another Eimeria species occurred, the oocysts of which were excreted in low numbers and were characterized by the absence of a micropyle and an oocyst residuum. These oocysts measured 15.73 ± 2.22 × 14.18 ± 1.89 µm (mean of 100) and sporulated already within 60 h.

The horse-parasitizing species Babesia equi Laveran, 1901 was redescribed as Theileria equi Mehlhorn, Schein 1998 and, thus, transferred from one valid genus to another. This transfer was needed since it turned out that this horse parasite showed the relevant characteristics of theilerians with regard to biological data, morphological features, biochemical properties, and molecular biological relationships.

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic protozoan parasite that is highly prevalent in the human population and can lead to adverse health consequences in immunocompromised patients and pregnant women. Noncoding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs), play important regulatory roles in the pathogenesis of many infections. However, the differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and circRNAs implicated in the host cell response during the lytic cycle of T. gondii are unknown. In this study, we profiled the expression of miRNAs and circRNAs in human foreskin fibroblasts (HFFs) at different time points after T. gondii infection using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). We identified a total of 7, 7, 27, 45, 70, 148, 203, and 217 DEmiRNAs and 276, 355, 782, 1863, 1738, 6336, 1229, and 1680 DEcircRNAs at 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36, and 48 h post infection (hpi), respectively. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses revealed that the DE transcripts were enriched in immune response, apoptosis, signal transduction, and metabolism-related pathways. These findings provide new insight into the involvement of miRNAs and circRNAs in the host response to T. gondii infection.

Bei Mäusen zeigte sich nach der Inokulation virulenter Toxoplasmen (RH-Stamm) eine Hypoglykämie. Der Lactatspiegel sank nur gering unter den Normbereich, ATP und Pyruvat im Blut blieben normal. Im Leberextrakt war eine starke Abnahme der Glykogen- und Glucosekonzentration, sowie ein geringerer Konzentrationsabfall von ATP, Lactat und Pyruvat festzustellen. Eine geringe Hypoglykämie war auch am 11. und 13. Tag p.i. nach Inokulation schwach virulenter Toxoplasmen zu beobachten.

The role of enzymes in the excystation of an embryo-adapted strain ofE. tenella (TA) was investigated; 0.1% crude trypsin or pure trypsin in combination with 0.5% bile salt resulted in 75% and 58% excystation respectively. Both enzymes were more effective than chymotrypsin. Addition of 0.01% chymotrypsin to 0.1% purified trypsin resulted in 76% excystation suggesting that both trypsin and chymotrypsin may be important for excystation in vitro. Pre-incubation of sporocysts in 2% bile salt prior to the addition of enzyme resulted in lower excystation. Sporozoites released at various enzyme concentrations did not differ in infectivity when inoculated into chicken embryos. Excystation of the Houghton strains ofE. acervulina, E. praecox andE. maxima occurred more rapidly at lower concentrations of crude trypsin plus 0.5% bile salt than the Houghton strains ofE. brunetti orE. tenella. Sixty per cent of sporozoites ofE. acervulina had excysted after 25 min incubation with 0.001% crude trypsin plus 0.5% bile salt. At the same concentrations 72%E. praecox had excysted after 25 min, 43%E. maxima after 60 min, 20%E. brunetti after 105 min and 1%E. tenella after 105 min. Maximum numbers of sporozoites ofE. brunetti andE. tenella were found after 105 min incubation with 0.1% crude trypsin. Whereas incubation ofE. acervulina, E. praecox andE. maxima for 105 min in 0.01% crude trypsin resulted in sporozoite lysis, no lysis was found withE. brunetti orE. tenella after incubation in crude trypsin.

Paragonimus westermani is the most well-known species among the genus Paragonimus. It is widely distributed in Asia with considerable genetic diversity to form P. westermani species complex. While P. westermani distributed in Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan are genetically homogeneous to form the East Asia group, those found in other geographic areas are heterogeneous and would be divided into several groups. Recent discoveries of P. westermani in India and Sri Lanka highlighted new insights on molecular phylogenetic relationship of geographic isolates of this species complex. Since Vietnam is located at the east end of Southeast Asia, the intermediate position between South and East Asia, it is of interest to see whether P. westermani is distributed in this country. Here, we report that P. westermani metacercariae were found in mountainous crabs, Potamiscus sp., collected in Quangtri province in the central Vietnam. Adult worms were successfully obtained by experimental infection in cats. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that P. westermani of Vietnamese isolates have high similarities with those of East Asia group.

Wild animals can be involved in epidemiology of many important diseases and often act as reservoirs of pathogens which cause disease in domestic animals and humans. This paper aims the role of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the circulation of coccidian parasites from the genus Cryptosporidium. Cryptosporidiosis is known as an important enteric pathogen, clinical symptoms in particular in immune-compromised individuals range from mild to severe diarrhoea and dehydration, which could be fatal. Fecal samples from 62 red foxes shot during September 2010 to February 2011 and 63 brown bears collected during June 2010 to March 2011 in central and eastern Slovakia were examined for the qualitative determination of Cryptosporidium spp. antigens in faeces by sandwich ELISA kit. Overall, 38.7% (24/62) of faecal samples of red foxes and 55.6% (35/63) of faecal samples of brown bear were positive. Our preliminary results emphasize prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. amongst brown bears and red foxes in Slovakia and highlight the potential risk for transmission of cryptosporidiosis to humans using the countryside for professional or recreational purposes.

Schistosomiasis is an intravascular disease caused by parasitic trematode worms of the genus Schistosoma. It is estimated that more than 200 million people are infected in the world, and 800 million are at risk of infection. The main lesions are due to eggs trapping in tissue which can lead a series of pathogenic effect relative to immune response. Therefore, killing and eradicating eggs in tissue is often the target to treat schistosomiasis. Here, we report 75 patients who being cured for over 20 years developed into advanced schistosomiasis. A total of 90 patients with a diagnosis of schistosomiasis in various periods were enrolled. Of them, all patients have liver fibrosis, splenectomy was performed in 48.0 %, 42.7 % have splenomegaly, and 30.0 % have portal hypertension. No patients were infected with HBV. Moreover, all patients have not been to Schistosoma-endemic regions. Our results showed that there are other factors leading to schistosomiasis progress besides eggs as well as Schistosoma mansoni.

Myxobolus gutturocola n. sp. was isolated from the throat of silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, in Chongqing, China. Myxospore valves are unsymmetrical and smooth. Mature spores are ellipsoidal in frontal view, measuring 12.5 ± 0.2 μm (n = 25) in length, 8.4 ± 0.2 μm (n = 25) in width and 7.1 ± 0.2 μm (n = 25) in thickness. Each spore has two pyriform and unequal sizes polar capsules, the large one with 5.7 ± 0.2 μm in length × 3.6 ± 0.2 μm in width and the small one with 4.6 ± 0.2 μm in length × 2.6 ± 0.1 μm in width. Polar filaments are coiled seven or eight turns in the large polar capsule and four or five turns in the small polar capsule. The coils are arranged almost perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the polar capsule. Morphological analysis revealed that M. gutturocola n. sp. is distinct from related species of Myxobolus Bütschli, 1882. Molecular analysis has demonstrated that its SSU rDNA sequences do not match with any available sequences in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis of the SSU rDNA sequences indicated this species clustered in a clade composed exclusively of parasites infecting the fishes of the Leucisini lineage and most closely related to Myxobolus pavlovskii isolated from the gill filaments of silver carp in Hungary.