Abstract
Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most important zoonotic parasitic diseases caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus. Based on molecular studies and DNA sequencing, E. granulosus has been classified into 10 different genotypes (G1 to G10). Two neighboring countries, Turkey and Iran, are considered the two main foci of CE in the Middle East. The current study is aimed at examining the genotype diversity of E. granulosus isolated from human clinical samples in Turkey and Iran. Surgically removed human hydatid cysts were collected from East Azerbaijan and Fars provinces in Iran and Van province in Turkey. After extracting DNA, performing PCR, targeting the cox1 gene, the PCR products were purified from the gel and were sequenced from both directions. The sequences were aligned and compared, using BioEdit and also the BLAST program of GenBank. The maximum likelihood tree was constructed based on the Tamura-Nei model, using the MEGAX software. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the human isolated samples were classified into two major clades: G1 (from Iran and Turkey) and G3 (5 samples from northwestern Iran and one sample from Turkey). The mean and degree of genetic divergence (K2P) between the two major clades, G1 and G3, were 0.2% and 0.7 ± 0.4%, respectively. The findings of the current study revealed that the sheep strain (G1) and the less important strain G3 have major roles in the transmission cycle of CE in two neighboring countries, Iran and Turkey. Therefore, it is necessary to interpose the life cycle of this parasite and reduce the disease burden in livestock and humans by adopting common regional preventive and control policies.
Highlights
Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most important zoonotic parasitic diseases caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus [1, 2]
About the sequence group of Fars province, there were three haplotypes, of which one was shared with Turkey, one was shared with East Azerbaijan, and one haplotype was specific to this group
Findings of the present study revealed that the genetic diversity of E. granulosus sensu stricto in humans from Turkey was higher than that in Iranian humans isolates, as from 8 identified haplotypes four were specific to the Turkish region
Summary
Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most important zoonotic parasitic diseases caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus [1, 2]. The adult form of this parasite lives in the intestine of the dogs as the definitive hosts, whereas the intermediate hosts are humans and livestock. A human becomes infective through consumption of vegetables and food contaminated with parasite eggs [3]. The infection is widespread worldwide, and it has been reported from all countries in the Middle East, extensively in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq [4,5,6]. Annual economic losses of CE due to livestock infection and the monetary burden of human CE are substantial in both Turkey and Iran [7,8,9]. Seroepidemiological surveys have reported a prevalence rate of 1.2 to 21.4% for hydatid cysts in different areas of Iran [9].
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