Karaman Ulkü, Sener Serpil, Calık Sinan, Saşmaz Sezai
Ordu University School of Health, Ordu, Turkey.
Mikrobiyol Bul. 2011 Jan;45(1):168-73.
Microsporidia species are one of the major causes of severe diarrhea especially in immunocompromised patients, however they also cause infections in immunocompetent subjects. Urticaria, which is a common dermatologic disease may be triggered by drugs, infections, foods or food additives, psychogenic factors and autoimmune, metabolic and malignant diseases. While the etiologic grounds of acute urticaria are generally identified, the etiology remains unknown in most of the chronic urticaria cases. The studies on the roles of parasitic infections in the etiology of urticaria have indicated that the most responsible protozoa are Giardia intestinalis and Blastocystis hominis. However, no data have been found in the literature concerning the relationship between Microsporidia and urticaria. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Microsporidia spores in the stool samples of patients diagnosed as acute or chronic urticaria in dermatology clinics and to determine the rates of positivity. All of the samples stained with modified trichrome and calcofluor staining methods were examined microscopically. The samples were accepted as positive when the spores of Microsporidia were detected by both of the staining methods. Microsporidia were detected in 26 (19.7%) of the patients and in 1 (2.8%) of the control subjects. Thus the total rate of positivity was 16% (27/168). In cases with acute/chronic urticaria, microsporidia positivity rate was found significantly higher than the control group (p= 0.028; p< 0.05). No statistically significant difference was detected between Microsporidia positivity and age or gender (p= 0.27 and p= 0.99, respectively; p> 0.05). In conclusion, Microsporidia should be taken into consideration in patients with unknown origin of urticaria. However, advanced studies are needed for supporting the relation between Microsporidia and acute/chronic urticaria.
微孢子虫是严重腹泻的主要病因之一，尤其是在免疫功能低下的患者中，不过它们也会感染免疫功能正常的个体。荨麻疹是一种常见的皮肤病，可能由药物、感染、食物或食品添加剂、心理因素以及自身免疫性、代谢性和恶性疾病引发。虽然急性荨麻疹的病因通常能够明确，但大多数慢性荨麻疹病例的病因仍不明确。关于寄生虫感染在荨麻疹病因中作用的研究表明，最主要的原生动物是肠道贾第虫和人芽囊原虫。然而，文献中尚未发现有关微孢子虫与荨麻疹之间关系的数据。本研究的目的是调查皮肤科诊所诊断为急性或慢性荨麻疹患者粪便样本中微孢子虫孢子的存在情况，并确定阳性率。所有用改良三色染色法和荧光增白剂染色法染色的样本都进行了显微镜检查。当两种染色方法均检测到微孢子虫孢子时，样本被判定为阳性。在26名（19.7%）患者和1名（2.8%）对照受试者中检测到了微孢子虫。因此，总阳性率为16%（27/168）。在急性/慢性荨麻疹患者中，微孢子虫阳性率显著高于对照组（p = 0.028；p < 0.05）。微孢子虫阳性与年龄或性别之间未检测到统计学上的显著差异（分别为p = 0.27和p = 0.99；p > 0.05）。总之，对于病因不明的荨麻疹患者应考虑微孢子虫感染。然而，需要进一步的研究来支持微孢子虫与急性/慢性荨麻疹之间的关系。
