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. 2021 Jan 13:2021:8821885.
doi: 10.1155/2021/8821885. eCollection 2021.

Prevalence and Subtype Analysis of Blastocystis hominis Isolated from Patients in the Northeast of Iran

Mitra Salehi  1 , Jalal Mardaneh  1 , Hamid Reza Niazkar  2 , Mohammadhaasan Minooeianhaghighi  3 , Elahe Arshad  2 , Fateme Soleimani  2 , Alireza Mohammadzadeh  3
Affiliations

Prevalence and Subtype Analysis of Blastocystis hominis Isolated from Patients in the Northeast of Iran

Mitra Salehi et al. J Parasitol Res. .

Abstract

Blastocystis hominis is the most common intestinal parasite found in humans and many other hosts. Pathogenicity of Blastocystis spp. remains controversial, and it has been suggested that it may be associated with specific subtypes of the organism. This study identified the B. hominis subtypes and their prevalence rates in the northeast of Iran. A total of 1878 samples were collected from the northeast of Iran from January to December 2017. The patients' demographic details were recorded. Samples were examined by a wet mount, and genomic DNA was extracted from positive samples. Also, PCR was done on the positive samples, and sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were subsequently performed. From 1878 collected stool samples, 152 (8.1%) Blastocystis samples were detected by the microscopic method. Of the 152 samples, Blastocystis spp. were found in 53.6% of the men and 28.9% of the women who showed clinical gastrointestinal symptoms, and a significant relationship was observed between gender and clinical symptoms (P = 0.002). A meaningful relationship was found between the season and infection with this parasite (P value = 0.003). The results of the sequencing of 22 PCR products showed the dominance of ST3, which was isolated from 10 (45.45%) patients, while ST1, ST2, and ST7 were found in 4 (18.19%), 7 (31.81%), and 1 (4.55%) patients, respectively. In this study, ST7 had a low prevalence in the northeast of Iran, and similar to previous studies, ST3 was the dominant subtype.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The presence of Blastocystis spp. in the background with tri-chrome staining.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PCR-product of Blastocystis isolates. Lanes 1 to 5: Blastocystis isolates; lane NC: negative control; lane PC: positive control; DNA ladder, 100 bp.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Phylogenetic tree of the SSU-rDNA gene sequences of Blastocystis specimens. The phylogenetic tree was inferred using the neighbor-joining method.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Alignment nucleotides of accession number MG254568 (BL7) with the ST3 reference.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Alignment nucleotides of accession number MH049535 (BL13) with the ST7 reference.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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