Sim Seobo, Won Jua, Kim Jae-Whan, Kim Kyungjin, Park Woo-Yoon, Yu Jae-Ran
Department of Environmental and Tropical Medicine & International Healthcare Research Institute, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul 05029, Korea.
Department of Radiation Oncology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea.
Korean J Parasitol. 2017 Apr;55(2):137-142. doi: 10.3347/kjp.2017.55.2.137.
and are well-known coccidian protozoa that can cause waterborne and foodborne diarrheal illnesses. There have been a few reports regarding contamination in different vegetables with , but no data are available regarding the sources of infections in Korea. In the present study, we collected 6 kinds of vegetables (perilla leaves, winter-grown cabbages, chives, sprouts, blueberries, and cherry tomatoes) from July 2014 to June 2015, and investigated contamination by these 2 protozoa using multiplex quantitative real-time PCR. Among 404 vegetables, and were detected in 31 (7.7%) and 5 (1.2%) samples, respectively. In addition, was isolated from all 6 kinds of vegetables, whereas was detected in 4 kinds of vegetables (except perilla leaves and chives). (17.8%) and (2.9%) had the highest detection rates in chives and winter-grown cabbages, respectively. was detected all year long; however, was detected only from October to January. In 2 samples (sprout and blueberry), both and were detected. Further investigations using I restriction enzyme fragmentation and nested PCR confirmed and , respectively. In conclusion, we detected in vegetables for the first time in Korea. This suggests that screening should be employed to prevent these protozoal infections in Korea.
和是著名的球虫原生动物，可引起水源性和食源性腹泻疾病。关于不同蔬菜被污染的报道已有一些，但韩国关于感染源的数据尚无。在本研究中，我们于2014年7月至2015年6月收集了6种蔬菜（紫苏叶、冬白菜、韭菜、豆芽、蓝莓和樱桃番茄），并使用多重定量实时PCR调查了这两种原生动物的污染情况。在404份蔬菜样本中，分别在31份（7.7%）和5份（1.2%）样本中检测到和。此外，在所有6种蔬菜中均分离出，而在4种蔬菜（紫苏叶和韭菜除外）中检测到。在韭菜和冬白菜中的检出率最高，分别为17.8%和2.9%。全年均检测到；然而，仅在10月至1月检测到。在2份样本（豆芽和蓝莓）中，同时检测到和。使用I限制性内切酶片段化和巢式PCR的进一步调查分别证实了和。总之，我们在韩国首次在蔬菜中检测到。这表明在韩国应采用筛查来预防这些原生动物感染。
