Detection of several Echinococcus granulosus genotypes in the definitive host during patent and pre-patent periods

ARIEL NAIDICH; DONALD MCMANUS; SERGIO CANOVA; ARIANA GUTIERREZ; WENBAO ZHANG; EDUARDO GUARNERA; MARA CECILIA ROSENZVIT

Glasgow, Escocia, Reino Unido

Congreso; The 11th International Congress of Parasitology (ICOPA XI); 2006

The World Federation of Parasitologists and The British Society for Parasitology (BSP)

The cestode parasite Echinococcus granulosus is the causative agent of cystic hydatid disease, a zoonosis that affects the public health and economy in many areas worldwide.  The detection of Echinococcus granulosus in dogs, the main definitive host, is important for epidemiological surveillance and evaluation of cystic hydatic disease control programs. We report the efficacy of two PCR-based methods to detect patent and pre-patent infection in dogs experimentally infected with E. granulosus. The detection is based on amplification of a fragment of a mitochondrial gene (Mit-PCR), reported by Cabrera et al (2002) and an E. granulosus DNA repetitive element (Rep-PCR), reported by Abbasi et al (2003). We tested the ability of both methods to detect several genotypes of the parasite. Both PCR methods could detect E. granulosus in pre-patent and patent periods, even when microscopical observation of eggs resulted negative in fecal samples. The Mit-PCR produced the same amplification pattern for all the parasite genotypes tested while the amplification patterns with the Rep-PCR differed among groups of strains. Fecal samples collected from dogs of an endemic area were diagnosed with more sensitivity than arecoline hydrobromide purgation. These molecular methods could be applied in the confirmation of coproantigen-positive fecal samples and to verify the success of control programs.