Molecular characterization of Cysticercus tenuicollis of slaughtered livestock in Upper Egypt governorates

Objective: To present the molecular characterization of Cysticercus tenuicollis (C. tenuicollis) of Taenia hydatigena (T. hydatigena) from livestock isolates in Egypt, and to introduce a detailed image of C. tenuicollis infection in ruminant animals in Upper Egypt. Methods: The prevalence rates of C. tenuicollis infections among the slaughtered animals from different organs were determined using the amplification of sequencing of the MT-CO1 gene. Results: In the present study the infection rates of C. tenuicollis were found to be 16% and 19% in sheep and goat samples respectively. Firstly we report one larval stage of T. hydatigena detected in the camel liver in Egypt. C. tenuicollis infection manifested a higher prevalence in females than in males. Those above two years of age manifested a higher infection rate than younger animals. The preferred site for the infection was the omentum: a 70% preference in sheep and a 68% preference in goats. The molecular characterization using the MT-CO1 gene of isolates from sheep, goats and camels corresponded to T. hydatigena. For this study, molecular characterizations of T. hydatigena were done for the first time in Egypt. Molecular tools are of great assistance in characterizing the C. tenuicollis parasite especially when the morphological character cannot be detected, because the metacestodes are frequently confused with infection by the hydatid cyst, especially when these occur in the visceral organs. In the present study, C. tenuicollis manifested high identity in the goat and sheep samples, while differences were found more frequently in the camel samples (10 base pair). Conclusions: Clearly molecular diagnosis for C. tenuicollis infection significantly helps to differentiate it from such other metacestodes as hydatidosis, which manifests a completely different pathogenicity and requires different control programs

Detection of the intranuclear microsporidian Enterospora nucleophila in gilthead sea bream by in situ hybridization

Enterospora nucleophila is an intranuclear microsporidian responsible for emaciative microsporidiosis of gilthead sea bream (GSB). Its minute size and cryptic nature make it easily misdiagnosed. An in situ hybridization (ISH) technique based on antisense oligonucleotide probes specific for the parasite was developed and used in clinically infected GSB in combination with calcofluor white stain (CW) and other histopathological techniques. The ISH method was found to label very conspicuously the cells containing parasite stages, with the signal concentrating in merogonial and sporogonial plasmodia within the infected cell nuclei. Comparison with CW demonstrated limited ISH signal in cells containing mature spores, which was attributed mostly to the scarcity of probe targets present in these stages. Although spores were detected in other organs of the digestive system as well as in the peripheral blood, proliferative stages or parasite reservoirs were not found in this work outside the intestines. The study demonstrated a frequent disassociation between the presence of abundant spores and the intensity of the infections as determined by the parasite activity. The ISH allows confirmatory diagnosis of GSB microsporidiosis and estimation of infection intensity and will be a valuable tool for a more precise determination of parasite dissemination pathways and pathogeny mechanisms.This work has been carried out with financial support from the Spanish MINECO under project AGL2013‐48560‐C2‐2‐R. Additional funding was provided by the European Union, through the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant agreement 634429 (ParaFishControl).Peer reviewe