Abstract
Most part of Southeast Asia is considered endemic for human-infecting Taenia tapeworms; Taenia solium, T. saginata, and T. asiatica. However, until now there was no report of the occurrence of human cases of T. asiatica in Lao PDR. This study, conducted in Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR, microscopically examined a total of 470 fecal samples by Kato Katz method and found 86% of people harboring at least one helminth. Hookworms were detected in 56% of the samples besides Opisthorchis like eggs (42%), Trichuris trichiura (27%), Ascaris spp. (14%), and Taenia spp. (4%) eggs. Serology for cysticercosis showed 6.8% positives with results varying from 3% to 14.3% in Ethnic School students and Kalouk Kao village respectively. Species-specific PCR targeting mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 28 tapeworms, recovered from 16 patients, revealed T. solium (n = 2), T. saginata (n = 21), and T. asiatica (n = 5). Two patients were confirmed to be coinfected with T. saginata and T. asiatica, indicating the endemicity of the 3 human Taenia in Lao PDR. However, nucleotide sequencing of a nuclear DNA gene, DNA polymerase delta (pold) revealed that all the tapeworms identified as T. asiatica using mtDNA had T. saginata type allele at pold locus, demonstrating that they are not “pure T. asiatica” but the hybrid descendants between the two species, confirming the wide distribution of hybrids of T. saginata/ T. asiatica in Southeast Asia. The high prevalence of several helminthic NTDs in east Savannakhet area even with conventional control measures indicates the importance to establish wide and multifaceted health programs to sustainably improve the quality of life of the populations living in these communities.
Highlights
Human are the definitive hosts for Taenia solium, Taenia saginata, and Taenia asiatica, which are referred as the human-Taenia
The information provided from Sepon Health Center regarding the cultural aspects of the region showed no restrictions for food within the ethnic groups living in the area, with all the analyzed population consuming different types of meat and vegetables including raw or cooked beef and pork meat or viscera and cooked and fresh vegetables mainly produced for subsistence in the local area or acquired from local markets
A total of 49 ethnic groups have been recognized in Lao PDR [16], as one could expect, parasitic infection prevalence patterns might differ according to different areas of the country and may explain some parasitic infection particularities as we observed in Sepon, considered an endemic area for the three human Taenia
Summary
Human are the definitive hosts for Taenia solium, Taenia saginata, and Taenia asiatica, which are referred as the human-Taenia. The distribution of each of the 3 species of human Taenia depends on peoples’ cultural characteristics which involve the consumption of undercooked meat or organs of intermediate hosts infected with viable metacestodes [1,2,3]. Southeast Asia is considered an endemic area for the 3 species of human Taenia with several reports of occurrence in human and animals [8,9,10,11]. There is no report of the occurrence nor evidence of T. asiatica in human in Lao PDR despite its localization, surrounded by endemic countries [12,13,14]. An extensive study on the prevalence of taeniasis in Lao PDR with whole country coverage reported the presence of mainly T. saginata found in all Lao PDR’s provinces and T. solium in Luang Prabang, northern area [10]
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