Molecular and Phylogenetic Status of Coenurus cerebralis Infecting Sheep from Dakahlia Province, Egypt

Abstract

The limited genetic data as well as the economic and zoonotic importance of the genus Taenia, interestingly T. multiceps, from Egypt drew our attention to study the molecular characters and the phylogenetic position of this parasite species from sheep. Brains from 80 apparently healthy sheep slaughtered at Mansoura abattoir, Dakahlia province, Egypt, were incised and palpated for the presence of Coenurus cerebralis cysts. DNA was extracted from each cyst and amplified by PCR using two mitochondrial genes, the cytochrome oxidase (CO1) and the NADH dehydrogenase (ND1). Sequences were aligned with those published on GenBank and subjected to the phylogenetic analysis. C. cerebralis cysts were found in 3 (3.7%) out of the examined sheep and the three isolates were identical in their sequences. There were 99% identity between our isolates and those from Turkish (KT217594) and Iranian (JQ710587) sheep at the level of CO1 gene which confirmed by the phylogenetic analysis. Both CO1 and ND1 phenograms evidenced the existence of genetic variants within T. multiceps from variable hosts within different geographical regions. Our results supposed the conspecificity between the sheep and goat isolates, and the potential existence of a quasi-species in T. multiceps isolates from cattle. Such data could help in the epidemiological studies and implementation of control regimens against this economically important parasite.

First report of an outbreak of cerebral coenurosis in Dhofari goats in Oman

“…Cerebral coenurosis is endemic in Middle Eastern countries, with many reports originating from Iran (KHEIRANDISH et al, 2012;MOGHADDAR, 2007;TAVASSOLI et al, 2011), Egypt (ABBAS & ELBESKAWY, 2016;AMER et al, 2017), Turkey (AVCIOGLU et al, 2011GAZIOGLU et al, 2017;GICIK et al, 2007), Jordan (ABO-SHEHADA et al, 2002) and Iraq (KARIM, 1979).…”

The Prevalence and Determinants of Taenia multiceps Infection (Cerebral Coenurosis) in Small Ruminants in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…Findings on the prevalence of T. multiceps from most abattoir studies should be cautiously interpreted due to the possible bias, since sick animals might be positively selected to be culled due to health problems [19,20,22,[27][28][29][30]. Although this type of bias might exaggerate the prevalence estimates, these studies remain an important indicator of the magnitude of the problem in small ruminant-keeping communities.…”

Clinical, Some Epidemiological and Risk Factors Studies of Coenurosis in Sheep at Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt

“…The prevalence of sheep coeneurosis was reported in many countries like in Iran (9.8%) Oryan et al (1994), in Turkey (1.3%) Akkaya and Vurusaner, 1998; in Jordon (3%) Abo-Shehada et al (2002); in Italy (0.35%) Scala et al (2007); and (5%) in Brazilain sheep (Gazioglu et al, 2017), and in Egypt overall infection rate was (3.03%) Amer et al (2017) and (2.3%) (EL Beskawy et al, 2016) and C. cerebralis cysts were found in (3.7%) out of the examined sheep of the involved sheep population. (Abbas and EL Beskawy 2016).…”

“…Coenurosis is a fatal disease of sheep and goats caused by T. Multiceps which is characterized by nervous manifestations including circling, blindness, head deviation and mortalities (Njau et al, 1988, Biyikoglu et al, 1998and EL Beskawy et al, 2016 the economic impacts of this disease were a significant (Bussell et al, 1997 andAchenef et al, 1999).…”