Türkiye'deki Semptomatik Hastalardan Elde Edilen Blastocystis spp. İzolatlarının Polimeraz Zincir Reaksiyonu ile Alt Tiplendirilmesi

Abstract

Objective: Blastocystis spp. is a common parasite found in human intestinal tract; however its pathogenic role and factors involved is still under investigation. There are 13 different subtypes of Blastocystis spp. based on genotype analysis. In this study, subtypes of Blastocystis spp. were analyzed in 29 symptomatic patients who were positive for Blastocystis spp. in Erciyes University Hospital. Material and Methods: Stool samples from patients were confirmed to be positive for Blastocystis spp. by light microscopy. Genomic DNA was isolated from stool samples of the patients, and Blastocystis spp. isolates were classified into subtypes using polymerase chain reaction using 7 subtype-specific primers. Subtypes, symptoms and the presence of additional parasites were comparatively analyzed for each patient. Results: Among symptomatic patients, subtypes 3, 1, 2 and 4 were found in 55.2, 37.9, 13.8 and 6.8% of the patients, respectively. There were mixed infections of different subtypes such as 1 and 2 in one patient, 1 and 3 in another patient, and 3 and 4 in two patients. Most commonly encountered symptoms were abdominal pain and diarrhea followed by dermatitis. Additional parasites such as one of the flagellate or amoeba species were observed in 45.5% (5 out of 11 patients), 25% (1 out of 4 patients), 25% (4 out of 16 patients) and 50% (1 out of 2 patients) of patients having subtypes 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the relative abundance of each Blastocystis spp. subtype in symptomatic patients in Kayseri and surrounding cities. Observed subtypes are aligned as 3, 1, 2 and 4 according to frequency of occurrence.