Establishment of Hymenolepis diminuta Life Cycle to Provide Parasite Mass Production

Background: The main object of this experimental work was to practise laboratory production both adult and the larval stage of Hymenolepis diminuta with conventional modification to make further studies easier.Materials & Method: Adults H. diminuta were collected from urban rats in Tehran, Iran. The beetles became infected using blended gravid segments with flour as bait. Cysticercoids have been saved after precise dissection of invertebrate hosts. The exposure of infected beetles to labora­tory rats was performed to establish the life cycle. Result: Out of 57 collected rats, three rats were infected with H. diminuta. Almost all exposed beetles found infected with the larval stage of parasite. About one-month later H. diminuta eggs were seen in stool examination of laboratory rats.Conclusion: Rare human occurrence of H. diminuta along with light level of clinical manifesta­tion of this parasite, underestimate the concerns toward its public health importance. Nowadays, various field of studies, such as biochemistry with special focuses on the capability of H. di­minuta tegument absorption have performed apart from parasitological views alone. In the pre­sent study, establishment of this parasite life cycle has practically provided the access of adult and cysticercoid stages of the tapeworm in further researches

Molecular Diagnosis of Strongyloides stercoralis Infection by PCR Detection of Specific DNA in Human Stool Samples

Background: Strongyloidiasis is mostly an asymptomatic infection and diagnosis of latent infec­tions is difficult due to limitations of current parasitological and serological methods. This study was conducted to set up a PCR-based method for molecular diagnosis of Strongyloides stercor­alis infection by detection of copro-DNA in stool samples.Methods: A total of 782 fresh stool samples were collected and examined by agar plate culture. Among those sixteen stool samples, which confirmed to be infected with S. stercoralis were exam­ined as positive control to set up each single and nested PCR, using two primer sets design­ing to amplify partial ribosomal DNA of S. stercoralis genome. Since, single PCR method yielded higher efficacy in detecting positive samples, in the second step, 30 stool samples, which found negative for S. stercoralis by agar plate culture of single stool sample, were examined by sin­gle PCR. Data analysis was performed using McNemar's χ2 test, with consideration of a P-value of <0.05 as indication of significant difference.Results: In amplification of DNA extracted from stool samples, single PCR detected S. stercor­alis DNA target in all 16 positive samples, while nested PCR amplified DNA in only 75% of sam­ples. In the second step, single PCR amplified S. stercoralis extracted DNA in 5 out of 30 sam­ples which were negative by coproculture.Conclusion: Single PCR method amplifying a short (100bp) target represented more efficacies for detection of S. stercoralis in faecal examination compared to agar plate culture and nested PCR, which amplified longer target

Ocular Dirofilariasis, a Case Report

Accidental infection with animal filarial worms in humans is a dilemma for clinicians and parasitologists throughout the world. To date a variety of such rare parasitoses have been reported mostly in tropics and subtropics. Human dirofilariasis is among those unusual zoonotic infections that occasionally have been observed in the eye and in subcutaneous areas exhibiting with nodule formation. Filarial worms are transmitted to humans through invertebrate biological vectors such as certain species of mosquitoes. The present report describes a peculiar case of ocular dirofilariasis in a 49-year-old man resident in Iran

Morphological and Morphometrical Description of Trichostrongylus Species Isolated from Domestic Ruminants in Khuzestan Province, Southwest Iran

Backgrounds: Genus Trichostrongylus (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae) is one of the most impor­tant zoonotic nematodes with wide geographic distribution in the world. The purpose of the present study was to describe morphological and morphometrical characteristics of male Trichostrongylus species, currently prevalent in domestic ruminants of Khuzestan Province, south­west Iran.Methods: Gastro-intestinal organs of 1600 sheep, goats, cattle, and buffalos, slaughtered in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran, were examined for infectivity with Trichostrongylus spe­cies. For examination and measurements of helminthes, Azo-carmine staining was per­formed, followed by camera lucida drawings of morphological characters and measurements of morphometrical criteria with a calibrated microscope. Using valid nematodes systematic keys, almost all the parasites were identified at the level of species.Results: Overall, 114 animals were found infected with at least one species of Trichostrongy­lus. Considering morphological characteristics of male Trichostrongylus, six species were identi­fied including T. colubriformis, T. vitrinus, T. probolorus, T. capricola, T. longispicu­laris and Trichostrongylus sp. Conclusion: Although, compared to the previous decades, currently Trichostrongylus is much less prevalent in the domestic ruminants of the study area, but still different species occur in these animals

Endoparasites of Rodents and Their Zoonotic Importance in Germi, Dashte–Mogan, Ardabil Province, Iran

Background: In order to verify the infectivity of rodents with endoparasites in Germi (Dashte-Mogan, Arda­bil Province) the current study was undertaken.Methods: Using live traps, 177 rodents were trapped during 2005-2007. In field laboratory, all rodents were bled prior to autopsy, frozen at -20°C, and shipped to the School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. In parasitological laboratory, every rodent was dissected and its different or­gans were examined for the presence of any parasite. Blood thick and thin smears as well as impression smears of liver and spleen were stained with Geimsa and examined microscopically.Results: Two species of rodents were trapped; Meriones persicus (90.4%) and Microtus socialis (9.6%). The species of parasites found in M. persicus and their prevalences were as follows: Hymenolepis di­minuta (38.8%), Hymenolepis nana (2.5%), Trichuris sp.(40.6), Mesocestoides larva (=tetrathyridium) (3.1%), Capil­laria hepatica (6.9%), Moniliformis moniliformis (11.3%), Syphacia obvelata (2.5%), Taenia endotho­racicus larva (0.6%), Physaloptera sp. (0.6%), Dentostomella translucida (0.6%), Heligmosomum mix­tum (0.6%), Strobilocercus fasciolaris (0.6%),and Aspiculuris tetraptera (0.6%). The species of para­sites found in M. socialis and their prevalences were as follows: H. diminuta (17.6%), Trichuris sp. (5.9%), Mesocestoides larva (5.9%), S. obvelata (11.8%), S. syphacia (11.8%), H. mixtum (17.6%), and Aspiculuris tetraptera (11.8%). There were no statistical differences between male and female for infectivity with parasites in either M. persicus or M. socialis. No blood or tissue protozoan parasite was found in any of the rodents examined. Conclusion: Among different species identified, some had zoonotic importance. Therefore, the potential health hazard of these species needs to be considered to prevent infectivity of humans

HYDATIDOSIS AND TESTICULAR FILARIASIS (D.EVANSI) IN CAMEL (C.DROMEDARIUS) IN CENTRAL PART OF IRAN

En 1994, 125 carcases of camel (100 from Isfahan and 25 from Yazd) in slaughter - houses were studied for parasitic infections. Seventy percent of the camels were infected with hydatid cyst and half of the males (50%) had testicular filaria identified as Dipetalonema evansi. All the infected male camels except 3, demonstrated sheathed rnicrofilariae in their peripheral blood smears. Although some different helminths were identified in this survey, only hydatid cyst and Dipetalonema evansi, which were more prevalent, are discussed here. These animals are of unknown origin and are used for transportation between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran border areas

REPORT OF 10 CASES OF VISCERAL LARVA MIGRANS IN IRAN

Toxocariasis or Visceral Larva Migrans (VLM) is a parasitic infection resulting from the invasion of human visceral organs by Nematode larvae of genus Toxocara (dog Ascaris). Using gathered information of clinical manifestations, past history, biochemical and haematological tests, Indirect Fluorescence Antibody test (IFA) and follow up of patients, totally 10 human cases (6 males and 4 females) from 1993 to 1995 were diagnosed. The age of patients was between 3 to 52 years, but the most common age was in age group of 0-9 years old. Most of the patients (7 cases) had a previous history of contact with dog. A history of geophagy and contact with cat were noted in patients 4 &amp; 3, respectively. The residential areas of the patients were Guilan, Tehran, Hamadan, Khuzestan, Zanjan and Mazandaran. All patients showed high peripheral eosinophilia. Leukocytosis, high SGOT, SGPT and serum globulin were observed in 6, 3, 2 and 6 cases, respectively. Clinical findings were pain, fever, anorexia, dizziness, dyspnea, weight loss, cough, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy

Ophthalmomyiasis Caused by Flesh Fly (Dip¬tera: Sarcophagidae) in a Patient with Eye Malignancy in Iran

Here we describe a case of ophthalmomyiasis in a male patient with basal cell carcinoma. During the operation several live and motile maggots were removed from the lesion. Preliminary examination on the larvae confirmed their affiliation to the genus Sarcophaga (Diptera: Sarcophagidae).This genus is widely distributed throughout the world and species are very difficult to identify. The authors made at¬tempt to approach species identification by rearing larvae to the adult flesh flies, but due to shortage of adult male specimen, reliable diagnosis in the level of species was not obtained. Possible interaction between ocular myiasis and malignancy concerning the case has not been addressed in this paper