Abstract
Paragonimiasis has previously been reported in many zones of China, which is the infestation of the trematode genus Paragonimus. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence and epidemiology of paragonimiasis in Jinhua which is next to Fujian, China. The differences of Paragonimus westmani isolates from Jinhua and other areas of the world were also analyzed. Freshwater crabs and snails from streams located in each of the villages were dissected for isolation ofParagonimus metacercariae. The epidemiology data were further analyzed by using geographic information systems (GIS). We found that the infestation rate for theParagonimus cercariae in snails was as low as 2.3%, while that was as high as 76.67% in crabs. So, freshwater crabs were demonstrated as one of the main hosts for P. metacercariae in Jinhua. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis indicated that the sequences of the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) and cytochrome coxidase subunit I (COI) were conserved among different isolates, especially for the ITS2 gene. Based on the phylogenetic trees generated from the comparison results of COI gene, it was interesting to find that Paragonimus strains from different areas were present in different cluster. We conclude that the COI gene of Paragonimuscan be a molecular marker contributing to the typing and source tracking for Paragonimiasis. Key words: Paragonimus westermani, epidemiological survey, second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2), cytochrome coxidase subunit I (COI) gene.
Highlights
Paragonimiasis is an endemic disease caused by trematode parasites of the genus Paragonimus (Blair et al, 1999; Vélez et al, 2003)
This study was aimed to investigate the presence and epidemiology of paragonimiasis in the district of Jinhua which is next to Fujian Province
P. westermani showed no significant difference in the nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome coxidase subunit I and ribosomal second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) genes
Summary
Paragonimiasis is an endemic disease caused by trematode parasites of the genus Paragonimus (Blair et al, 1999; Vélez et al, 2003). The disease is common in Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa, with an associated 21 million people infected around the world (Aka et al, 2008; Cho et al, 1997; De et al, 2000). The parasite is transmitted via snails to freshwater crabs or crayfish, to humans and other mammals, such as cats and dogs, and causes paragonimiasis (Abdul-hadi et al, 2008). It is estimated that over 20 million people are infected worldwide due to several species of Paragonimus. P. westermani is an important pathogen in Southeast Asia and China (Liu et al, 2008; Nakamura-uchiyama et al, 2002)
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