Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi

Blastocystis is a highly prevalent protozoan parasite of the intestinal tract of a wide range of animal hosts, including humans. To date, very little information is available of parasite in zoonotic potential reservoirs namely, companion animals, household pests and poultry population. The sugges...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Farah Haziqah, Meor Termizi
Format: Thesis
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/1/All.pdf
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/9/haziqah.pdf
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my.um.stud.7660
record_format eprints
spelling my.um.stud.76602020-02-11T23:50:35Z Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi Farah Haziqah, Meor Termizi Q Science (General) QH301 Biology Blastocystis is a highly prevalent protozoan parasite of the intestinal tract of a wide range of animal hosts, including humans. To date, very little information is available of parasite in zoonotic potential reservoirs namely, companion animals, household pests and poultry population. The suggestion that the intimate association between humans and animals could facilitate transmission led us to investigate Blastocystis in several animal hosts in the domestic environment such as cats, dogs, rodents, cockroaches, house geckos and chickens as no data is available to date. From October 2012 until April 2015, a total of 938 intestinal contents and/or faecal samples from different hosts were collected from three states of Peninsular Malaysia namely; Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Perak. The prevalence of Blastocystis infection was investigated by screening and in vitro cultivation method using Jones medium supplemented with 10% horse serum. A total of 26.3% (47/179) chicken faecal samples screened were positive for Blastocystis infection with high prevalence in free-range species compared to barnreared chicken. Results from this first epidemiological study showed positive infection in broiler chicken despite reared in farming method least prone to contamination. Intestinal infections were equally high 45.4% (133/293) in wild rats and cockroaches 40.4% (61/151) particularly the nymph stage. All infections were observed asymptomatic. Surprisingly, house geckos were free from infection. Light microscopy examination between the animal isolates was almost similar in morphology to B. hominis with the exception for their considerable size variations (chicken isolates: 10 to 100 μm; wild rat isolate: 4 to 45 μm; cockroach isolate 9 to 15 μm in diameter). Furthermore, ultrastructure examination demonstrated surface coat thickness and electron density also varied between different isolates. Close to half of the chicken isolates were completely electron-lucent when examined under the transmission electron micrographs whereas electron dense areas were observed in the central vacuole of the wild rat and cockroach isolate which indicated lipid accumulation. Surface coat were present on all isolates with the cockroach isolates the thickest between 276.17 to 336.67 nm followed by chicken isolates (239.39 to 169.27 nm) and the least in wild rat isolates (135.51 to 196.82 nm). Using the sequenced-tagged site (STS) primers and DNA barcoding method, four subtypes were detected from chicken isolates namely, ST1, ST6, ST7 and ST8. Meanwhile, four subtypes were detected from wild rats with ST1, ST4, ST5 and ST7. In cockroach population, two cockroach isolates were identified as ST3 and one isolate was closely related to allele 114 which is most likely to be the new subtype. Although cultivation was unsuccessful from all cat and dog samples, 12 cat samples were found positive for Blastocystis sp. ST1. The finding of this study adds to our understanding of the biology, transmission as well as distribution of this organism in animals living in close association to humans and highlights their zoonotic potential. 2017-01 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/1/All.pdf application/pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/9/haziqah.pdf Farah Haziqah, Meor Termizi (2017) Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi. PhD thesis, University of Malaya. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Student Repository
url_provider http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/
topic Q Science (General)
QH301 Biology
spellingShingle Q Science (General)
QH301 Biology
Farah Haziqah, Meor Termizi
Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi
description Blastocystis is a highly prevalent protozoan parasite of the intestinal tract of a wide range of animal hosts, including humans. To date, very little information is available of parasite in zoonotic potential reservoirs namely, companion animals, household pests and poultry population. The suggestion that the intimate association between humans and animals could facilitate transmission led us to investigate Blastocystis in several animal hosts in the domestic environment such as cats, dogs, rodents, cockroaches, house geckos and chickens as no data is available to date. From October 2012 until April 2015, a total of 938 intestinal contents and/or faecal samples from different hosts were collected from three states of Peninsular Malaysia namely; Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Perak. The prevalence of Blastocystis infection was investigated by screening and in vitro cultivation method using Jones medium supplemented with 10% horse serum. A total of 26.3% (47/179) chicken faecal samples screened were positive for Blastocystis infection with high prevalence in free-range species compared to barnreared chicken. Results from this first epidemiological study showed positive infection in broiler chicken despite reared in farming method least prone to contamination. Intestinal infections were equally high 45.4% (133/293) in wild rats and cockroaches 40.4% (61/151) particularly the nymph stage. All infections were observed asymptomatic. Surprisingly, house geckos were free from infection. Light microscopy examination between the animal isolates was almost similar in morphology to B. hominis with the exception for their considerable size variations (chicken isolates: 10 to 100 μm; wild rat isolate: 4 to 45 μm; cockroach isolate 9 to 15 μm in diameter). Furthermore, ultrastructure examination demonstrated surface coat thickness and electron density also varied between different isolates. Close to half of the chicken isolates were completely electron-lucent when examined under the transmission electron micrographs whereas electron dense areas were observed in the central vacuole of the wild rat and cockroach isolate which indicated lipid accumulation. Surface coat were present on all isolates with the cockroach isolates the thickest between 276.17 to 336.67 nm followed by chicken isolates (239.39 to 169.27 nm) and the least in wild rat isolates (135.51 to 196.82 nm). Using the sequenced-tagged site (STS) primers and DNA barcoding method, four subtypes were detected from chicken isolates namely, ST1, ST6, ST7 and ST8. Meanwhile, four subtypes were detected from wild rats with ST1, ST4, ST5 and ST7. In cockroach population, two cockroach isolates were identified as ST3 and one isolate was closely related to allele 114 which is most likely to be the new subtype. Although cultivation was unsuccessful from all cat and dog samples, 12 cat samples were found positive for Blastocystis sp. ST1. The finding of this study adds to our understanding of the biology, transmission as well as distribution of this organism in animals living in close association to humans and highlights their zoonotic potential.
format Thesis
author Farah Haziqah, Meor Termizi
author_facet Farah Haziqah, Meor Termizi
author_sort Farah Haziqah, Meor Termizi
title Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi
title_short Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi
title_full Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi
title_fullStr Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi
title_full_unstemmed Studies on the prevalence and biology of Blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in Malaysia / Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi
title_sort studies on the prevalence and biology of blastocystis spp. isolated from zoonotic reservoirs in malaysia / farah haziqah meor termizi
publishDate 2017
url http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/1/All.pdf
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/9/haziqah.pdf
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7660/
_version_ 1738506047357714432
score 13.211869