Bilden Alican, Kahraman Merve, Şahin İbrahim Halil, İbrahim Kamil Kamil Nadia, Karakamış Ömer, Sevim Elif, Çiçek Muttalip
Medical Parasitology, Ahi Evran University, Kırşehir, Turkey.
Medical Services and Techniques, Eren University, Bitlis, Turkey.
Ann Agric Environ Med. 2025 Jun 27;32(2):211-215. doi: 10.26444/aaem/205390. Epub 2025 May 26.
The aim of the study is to investigate whether transovarial transmission of the Hepatitis B virus occurs in leeches, and whether the virus is released into the external environment through their secretions.
52 reproductive leeches () were experimentally fed with hepatitis B infected human blood. From these reproductive leeches, juveniles were produced. Additionally, diverse leech-associated samples were collected, encompassing water and soil from the habitats of the reproductive leeches, faeces, body surface secretions, and cocoon shells. Each sample was analyzed for the presence of the hepatitis B virus using advanced molecular methods, specifically, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
90 juveniles, 15 leech-associated samples, and 13 cocoon shells were analyzed. Analyses did not reveal the presence of HBV in any of the 90 juveniles, or in the leech-associated samples. The results suggest that HBV is neither vertically transmitted to the juveniles through transovarial transmission, nor disseminated into the external environment through secretions or other biological materials linked to leeches.
The study concludes that leeches () do not facilitate the transovarial transmission of HBV. Moreover, the absence of HBV in the environmental samples highlights the minimal risk of viral spread via leech secretions, or associated materials. These findings provide critical insights for the ecological management of leech populations, especially in minimizing viral transmission risks. In the literature, studies on transovarial transmission in leeches are quite limited, and it has been concluded that while the data from the presented study are valuable, they are insufficient and highlight the need for further research in this field.
本研究旨在调查乙型肝炎病毒是否会在水蛭中发生经卵传播，以及该病毒是否会通过其分泌物释放到外部环境中。
用感染乙型肝炎的人血对52只生殖期水蛭进行实验性投喂。从这些生殖期水蛭中培育出幼体。此外，还收集了各种与水蛭相关的样本，包括生殖期水蛭栖息地的水和土壤、粪便、体表分泌物以及茧壳。使用先进的分子方法，即实时定量聚合酶链反应，对每个样本进行乙型肝炎病毒检测。
对90只幼体、15个与水蛭相关的样本和13个茧壳进行了分析。分析结果显示，在90只幼体或与水蛭相关的样本中均未检测到HBV。结果表明，HBV既不会通过经卵传播垂直传播给幼体，也不会通过与水蛭相关的分泌物或其他生物材料传播到外部环境中。
该研究得出结论，水蛭不会促进HBV的经卵传播。此外，环境样本中未检测到HBV，这突出表明通过水蛭分泌物或相关材料传播病毒的风险极小。这些发现为水蛭种群的生态管理提供了关键见解，特别是在最小化病毒传播风险方面。在文献中，关于水蛭经卵传播的研究相当有限，并且得出结论，虽然本研究的数据很有价值，但还不够充分，突出了该领域进一步研究的必要性。
