Abstract
BackgroundMajor symptoms associated with blastocystosis include diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, constipation, flatulence, urticaria, and skin rash. It may play a significant role in several chronic gastrointestinal illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).ObjectiveThe main objective was to identify Blastocystis spp. subtypes (STs) of clinical isolates obtained from three different groups of patients: IBS and non-IBS with and without gastrointestinal tract symptoms. The secondary objective was to evaluate the infectivity and pathogenicity of detected STs from each group in experimental rats.Patients and methodsThis study was designed as a case-control study. Stool samples were collected from patients attending Suez Canal University Hospitals. Only positive samples for Blastocystis spp. were included in the study and the three groups were identified (19 patients each). Blastocystis spp. STs were identified using seven pairs of primers (SB83, SB155, SB227, SB332, SB340, SB336, and SB337) to explore the relationship of different STs with different clinical presentations of each group. Detected STs, from each group, were then used to evaluate the infectivity and pathogenicity in experimentally infected rats monitored by parasitological and histopathological parameters.ResultsSTs using seven different sequence-tagged site primers revealed 54 isolates with single infection and three isolates with mixed infection. ST3 was the most common one in the present sample of Egyptian population (56.1%) followed by ST1 (35.1%), then ST2 (3.5%), whereas 5.3% were mixed infection (ST1 and ST3).ConclusionOur results showed that the clinical outcome of blastocystosis is not likely associated with a specific ST, although some STs are predominant in other epidemiologic studies.
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