Molecular epidemiology of Blastocystis sp. in dogs housed in Italian rescue shelters

Gazzonis, Alessia Libera; Marangi, Marianna; Zanzani, Sergio Aurelio; Villa, Luca; Giangaspero, Annunziata; Manfredi, Maria Teresa

doi:10.1007/s00436-019-06424-5

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Surveys targeting sheltered and household canine and feline populations did not demonstrate the presence of Blastocystis sp. in Japan and Spain [ 48 , 49 ], while infection rates in the range of 9.7‒37% have been documented in shelter dogs in the USA [ 7 ], in stray dogs in India [ 33 ], in dogs housed in Italian rescue shelters [ 50 ], and in symptomatic dogs and cats attending a veterinary clinic in Chile [ 51 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First molecular subtyping and phylogeny of Blastocystis sp. isolated from domestic and synanthropic animals (dogs, cats and brown rats) in southern Iran

et al. 2020

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Background Blastocystis sp. is a common intestinal protist that infects humans and many animals globally. Thus far, 22 subtypes (STs) have been identified in mammalian and avian hosts. Since various STs are common to humans and animals, it was suggested that some human infections might arise from zoonotic transmission. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the presence of Blastocystis sp. in domestic (dogs and cats) and synanthropic animals (rats) of Fars Province, Iran, and to genetically characterize the samples. Methods A total of 400 fresh faecal samples from 154 dogs, 119 cats, and 127 rats were inspected by direct microscopy, Wheatley’s trichrome staining, in vitro culture, and 18S rRNA gene nested-PCR. Finally, sequencing and phylogenetic analyses were performed. Results Out of 400 samples, 47 (11.8%) and 61 (15.3%) samples were detected as positive by direct wet mount and culture, respectively. Molecular analysis detected a larger number of positive samples ( n = 70, 17.5%): nested-PCR showed that 29 (18.8%) dogs, 21 (17.7%) cats, and 20 (15.8%) rats were infected by Blastocystis sp. Sequence analysis of positive samples indicated the presence of zoonotic STs in all investigated host species. Specifically, ST2 (allele 9), ST3 (allele 34), ST4 (allele 94), ST7 (allele 99), ST8 (allele 21), and ST10 (allele 152) were detected in dogs; ST1 (allele 2), ST3 (allele 34), ST4 (allele 94), ST10 (allele 152), and ST14 (allele 159) were detected in cats; and ST1 (allele 2), ST3 (allele 34), and ST4 (allele 92) were detected in rats. Conclusions Our data suggest that domestic dogs and cats can serve as possible reservoirs for in-contact humans, especially those who handle shelter-resident and client-owned animals. Moreover, rats as synanthropic animals can function as a potential source of human infections. Conversely, humans can act as a source of infections to animals. These results should be reinforced in future molecular epidemiological studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First molecular subtyping and phylogeny of Blastocystis sp. isolated from domestic and synanthropic animals (dogs, cats and brown rats) in southern Iran

et al. 2020

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“…Otherwise, the prevalence reported for stray dogs from India living mostly in areas of poor sanitation and hygiene was signi cantly higher (24%) [38]. Recently, Blastocystis ST3 was identi ed in 21.2% faecal samples from dogs housed in 6 different shelters located in Northern Italy, thus evidencing that sheltered dogs seem to be more at risk of harbouring Blastocystis than owned ones [15]. Similarly, in a survey carried out in the USA, Blastocystis was detected in 9.7% of examined shelter dogs while no positivity was found in owned dogs [34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite a prevalence rate of about 7% has been reported in Italian population [11,13] along with the identi cation of zoonotic STs in humans [8,9,10], studies aimed to identify the potential animal reservoirs of human Blastocystis infection in Italy are scant. So far, the detection of different STs from animals was carried out in few animal categories such as zoo mammals [14] and dogs [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular detection of Blastocystis from animals in Italy: subtypes distribution and implications for the zoonotic transmission

Gabrielli

Furzi

Brianti

et al. 2020

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Background: Blastocystis is a common intestinal protist distributed worldwide infecting humans and a wide range of domestic and wild animals. It exhibits an extensive genetic diversity and so far, 26 subtypes (STs) have been identified in animal hosts, ten of them (ST1-ST9 and ST12) reported in humans with varying prevalence. Since several STs are common to humans and animals it has been proposed that a proportion of human infections may have a zoonotic origin. Aims of the present study were to: 1) genetically detect Blastocystis in faecal samples of farmed animals and wild carnivores; 2) investigate the distribution of Blastocystis STs in different animal hosts; 3) provide a first study on the Blastocystis STs circulating between animals and humans in Italy.Methods: Fresh faecal samples (N=269) were collected from carnivores and farmed animals in different Italian provinces and submitted to genomic DNA extraction and PCR amplification followed by both sequence and phylogenetic analysis (Neighbour Joining and Maximum Parsimony)Results: Blastocystis was detected in 50% of the farmed animals (42 out of 84), and 19 of them were successfully subtyped. Conversely, all the faecal samples (N=185) from domestic and wild carnivores (dogs, cats, foxes) tested in the present study, resulted negative. Phylogenetic analysis showed the finding of ST5, ST7, ST9 and ST10 in the samples from animals. The comparison with sequences of Blastocystis STs previously detected from humans in Italy showed the ST7, as a potential source of zoonotic transmission.Conclusions: The present study represents the widest epidemiological survey so far performed in animals in Italy. Further epidemiological studies using molecular approaches are required to determine the occurrence and distribution of Blastocystis STs in other potential animal reservoirs and to define the pathways of zoonotic transmission.

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“…in China [64][65][66][67], followed by ST5 [61,68]. Dogs in the Italian rescue center were infected with ST3 [114]. The subtype infection in the United States was mainly ST8 (20.6%), followed by ST6…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Literature Analysis of Blastocystis sp. from 1990 to 2019 in China

Ning

Tian³

2020

Preprint

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Abstract Background: Blastocystis sp. is ubiquitous presence in animals and humans worldwide and a broad diversity genetically. The aim of this study was to find out the main research progress and research status of Blastocystis sp. in China in the past thirty years.Methods: On the Chinese mainstream database China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database and PubMed database, the research literatures of Chinese Blastocystis sp. were searched and analyzed.Results: 285 articles related to Blastocystis sp. were retrieved, including 244 published in Chinese and 41 English on pathogen morphology, epidemiological investigation, laboratory detection and diagnosis, clinical case reports, drug treatment, animal model establishment as well as pathogenicity studies. There were the most epidemiological investigations and researches on pathogenic morphology decreasing recently Surveys of Blastocystis sp. of human has been carried out among a total of 18 provinces, with infection rates ranging from 0.007% to 48.6%. Infants and young children, school students, hospitalized diarrhea patients, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients, tuberculosis patients, and cancer patients as respondents had been included. ST1-ST7 and ST12 were the main subtypes in Chinese population. Moreover, surveys of Blastocystis sp. of animal were also conducted in 12 provinces, with infection rates ranging from 2.54% to 79.41%. A variety of animals were investigated including pigs, cattle, sheep, yak, giant panda, and Crested Ibis et al., with the main subtypes of ST1-ST8, ST10, ST12-ST14. In vitro culture and Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were commonly used to detect Blastocystis sp. in research and less in clinical application. Traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine for clinical drug treatment appeared curative effects. However, there were few reports on the application of traditional Chinese medicine in clinical treatment. The pathogenicity of Blastocystis sp. remains controversial and needs further exploration.Conclusion: various researches on Blastocystis sp. had been carried out in China, especially in epidemiology. However, there is no report on the relationship between human Blastocystis sp. and animal infection. Furthermore, the relationship between infant diarrhea and its impact on the intestinal microecology have not received much attention from clinicians. The research on Blastocystis sp. still needs to be strengthened to provide effective data for the prevention and control and improve the quality of life of the population.

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Molecular epidemiology of Blastocystis sp. in dogs housed in Italian rescue shelters

Cited by 23 publications

References 42 publications

First molecular subtyping and phylogeny of Blastocystis sp. isolated from domestic and synanthropic animals (dogs, cats and brown rats) in southern Iran

First molecular subtyping and phylogeny of Blastocystis sp. isolated from domestic and synanthropic animals (dogs, cats and brown rats) in southern Iran

Molecular detection of Blastocystis from animals in Italy: subtypes distribution and implications for the zoonotic transmission

Literature Analysis of Blastocystis sp. from 1990 to 2019 in China

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