Marali Farnaz, Kheiri Soleiman, Mamaghani Amirreza Javadi, Naeini Kourosh Manouchehri
Department of Medical Parasitology, School of Medicine, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
Ann Parasitol. 2021;67(2):257-264. doi: 10.17420/ap6702.337.
Blastocystis is one of the most common intestinal protozoan parasites of human all over the world. Due to high prevalence and widespread species diversity of this parasite and the possibility of potential transmission of them to human, this study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of Blastocystis and characterize its subtypes (genotypes) in Shahrekord, central southwest of Iran. Microscopic examination showed that 6.4% (55/864) of the subjects were infected with Blastocystis spp. All of positive samples were sequenced successfully. The molecular methods showed that the infection was caused by four subtypes, including ST1, ST2, ST3 and ST7. The most common identified genotype of Blastocystis was ST3 (36.4%). The statistical analysis of data showed that there was no significant correlation between the prevalence of Blastocystis or its subtypes with age, gender, job, level of education, contact with animals, and clinical manifestations of infection in the patients. While the frequency of blastocystosis in this population seems to be less than many parts of Iran, but it can be argued that Blastocystis is still the most common intestinal parasite of human in this region compared with other intestinal parasites and it seems that the transmission of infection has an anthroponotic pattern.
芽囊原虫是全球人类最常见的肠道原生动物寄生虫之一。由于这种寄生虫的高流行率、广泛的物种多样性以及它们向人类潜在传播的可能性，本研究旨在调查伊朗西南部中部城市沙赫雷克德芽囊原虫的流行情况并对其亚型（基因型）进行特征分析。显微镜检查显示，6.4%（55/864）的受试者感染了芽囊原虫属。所有阳性样本均成功测序。分子方法表明，感染由四种亚型引起，包括ST1、ST2、ST3和ST7。芽囊原虫最常见的鉴定基因型是ST3（36.4%）。数据统计分析表明，芽囊原虫及其亚型的流行率与患者的年龄、性别、工作、教育程度、与动物接触情况以及感染的临床表现之间无显著相关性。虽然该人群中芽囊原虫病的发病率似乎低于伊朗许多地区，但可以认为，与其他肠道寄生虫相比，芽囊原虫仍是该地区人类最常见的肠道寄生虫，并且感染传播似乎具有人传人模式。
