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Abstract
Background and Purpose:Gastroenteritis and the clinical profile caused by Microsporidia, an opportunistic pathogen, may be severe in immunocompromised individuals, especially in AIDS patients. Conventionally, it is necessary to detect the small infective spores in stained smears. However, due to the limitations of the microscopy-based methods, several DNA-based methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have recently been developed to enhance diagnosis sensitivity. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the rate of infection in immunocompromised patients as compared with immunocompetent patients in Kerman, Iran.Materials and Methods:We collected stool samples of 199 human subjects (116 males and 83 females), aged 1 to 69 years old. They were divided into immunocompromised (i.e., AIDS [n=72] and cancer-positive patients [n=59]) and immunocompetent (n=68) groups. We comparatively examined the fecal materials using the microscopy and PCR methods.Results: The overall prevalence rate of Microsporidia infection was 10.05% (20/199). Entrocytozoon bieneusi was the only species within the Microsporidia genus that was identified in 14.5% (19/131) of the immunocompromised patients and 1.47% (1/68) of the immunocompetent individuals.Conclusion:Considering the higher prevalence rate of microsporidiosis in patients with immunodeficiency (10.03%), we suggest performing sensitive and specific techniques such as PCR for the detection of these parasites in immunocompromised patients.
Highlights
Introduction icrosporidia is an intracellular eukaryoticM microorganism that infects numerous animal and human cells [1]
Microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) yielded identical results (PCR was selected as the gold standard test), and all the DNAs extracted from positive isolates detected using Ryan trichorome stain were amplified well
The use of specific primers on the 18S rRNA locus of E. bieneusi resulted in 127–bp PCR products (Figure 2); whereas no band of 180 bp was observed using the specific primers of E. intestinalis
Summary
Introduction icrosporidia is an intracellular eukaryoticM microorganism that infects numerous animal and human cells [1]. Consistent with the results of recent phylogenetic and genetic analyses, the hypothesis that Microsporidia may be real fungi has been supported It seems that this species has a very special evolutionary relationship with zygomycetes [2, 3]. Immunocompromised, especially AIDS, patients with CD4+ T cell count of less than 100 /μl are at high risk for this type of infection. In this group of patients, the infection can be life-threatening [4, 5]. Materials and Methods: We collected stool samples of 199 human subjects (116 males and 83 females), aged 1 to 69 years old They were divided into immunocompromised (i.e., AIDS [n=72] and cancer-positive patients [n=59]) and immunocompetent (n=68) groups. Conclusion: Considering the higher prevalence rate of microsporidiosis in patients with immunodeficiency (10.03%), we suggest performing sensitive and specific techniques such as PCR for the detection of these parasites in immunocompromised patients
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