Toxocara Nematodes in Stray Cats from Shiraz, Southern Iran: Intensity of Infection and Molecular Identification of the Isolates
Abstract
Background: Toxocara is a common nematode of cats in different parts of Iran. Despite the close association of cats with human, no attempt has been done so far for molecular identification of this nematode in the country. Therefore, current study was performed on identification of some isolates of Toxocara from stray cats in Shiraz, Fars Province, Southern Iran, based on morphological and molecular approaches, and also determination of intensity of infection.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 30 stray cats trapped from different geographical areas of Shiraz in 2011. Adult male and female worms were recovered from digestive tract after dissection of cats. Morphological features us-ing existing keys and PCR-sequencing of ITS-rDNA region and pcox1 mitochon-drial l gene were applied for the delineating the species of the parasites.
Results: Eight out of 30 cats (26.7%) were found infected with Toxocara nema-todes. All the isolates were confirmed as Toxocara cati based on morphological fea-tures and the sequence of ribosomal and mitochondrial targets. Intensity of infec-tion ranged from one to a maximum of 39 worms per cat, with a mean of 10.25±12.36, and higher abundance of female nematodes.
Conclusion: The most prevalent ascaridoid nematode of stray cats in the study area was T. cati and female nematodes were more abundant than that of males. This issue has important role in spreading of eggs in the environment and impact on human toxocariasis.
Despommier D. Toxocariasis: Clinical Aspects, Epidemiology, Medical Ecology, and Molecu-lar Aspects. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2003; 16:265-272.
Holland CV, Smith HV. Toxocara: The Enig-matic Parasite, CAB International, 2006.
Ito K, Sakaei K, Okajima T, Ouchi K, Funako-shi A, Nishimura J, Ibayashi H, Tsuji M. Three cases of visceral larva migrans due to ingestion of raw chicken or cow liver. J Jpn Soc Intern Med.1986; 75:759-766.
Taira N, Fujita J. Morphological observation of Toxocara vitulorum found in Japanese calves. J Vet Med Sci. 1991; 53(3):409-413.
Cianferoni A, Schneider L, Schantz PM, Brown D, Fox LM. Visceral larva migrans as-sociated with earthworm ingestion: clinical evo-lution in an adolescent patient. Pediatrics. 2006; 117(2):e336-339.
Choi D, Lim JH, Choi DC, Lee KS, Paik SW, Kim SH, Choi YH, Huh S. Transmission of Toxocara canis via ingestion of raw cow liver: a cross-sectional study in healthy adults. Korean J Parasitol. 2012; 50(1):23-27.
Magnaval JF, Glickman LT, Dorchies P, Mo-rassin B. Highlights of human toxocariasis. Ko-rean J Parasitol. 2001; 39:1-11.
Fisher M. Toxocara cati: an underestimated zo-onotic agent. Trends Parasitol. 2003; 19(4):167-170.
Smith H, Holland C, Taylor M, Magnaval JF, Schantz P, Maizels R. How common is human toxocariasis? Towards standardizing our knowledge. Trends Parasitol. 2009; 25(4):182-188.
Rubinsky-Elefant G, Hirata CE, Yamamoto JH, Ferreira MU. Human toxocariasis: diagno-sis, worldwide seroprevalences and clinical ex-pression of the systemic and ocular forms. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2010; 104(1):3-23.
Auer H, Aspöck H. Nosology and epidemiol-ogy of human toxocarosis-the recent situation in Austria. Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2004; 116(4):7-18.
De Andrade Lima Coelho R, De Carvalho LB Jr, Perez EP, Araki K, Takeuchi T, Ito A, Aoki T, Yamasaki H. Prevalence of toxocariasis in northeastern Brazil based on serology using re-combinant Toxocara canis antigen. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2005; 72(1):103-107.
Cojocariu IE, Bahnea R, Luca C, Leca D, Luca M. Adult toxocariasis. Rev Med Chir Soc Med Nat Iasi. 2012; 116(2):432-435.
Mendonca LR, Veiga RV, Dattoli VC, Figueiredo CA, Fiaccone R, Santos J, Cruz AA, Rodrigues LC, Cooper PJ, Pontes-de-Carvalho LC, Barreto ML, Alcantara-Neves NM. Toxo-cara seropositivity, atopy and wheezing in chil-dren living in poor neighbourhoods in urban latin american. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012; 6(11):e1886.
Zhou M, Chang Q, Gonzales JA, Chen Q, Zhang Y, Huang X, Xu G, Wang W, Jiang R. Clinical characteristics of ocular toxocariasis in Eastern China. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Oph-thalmol. 2012; 250(9):1373-1378.
Caldera F, Burlone ME, Genchi C, Pirisi M, Bartoli E. Toxocara encephalitis presenting with autonomous nervous system involvement. In-fection. 2012. [Epub ahead of print]
Yamamoto N, Kon M, Saito T, Maeno N, Ko-yama M, Sunaoshi K, Yamaguchi M, Mor-ishima Y, Kawanaka M. Prevalence of intesti-nal canine and feline parasites in Saitama Pre-fecture, Japan. Kansenshogaku Zasshi. 2009; 83(3):223-228.
Becker AC, Rohen M, Epe C, Schnieder T. Prevalence of endoparasites in stray and fos-tered dogs and cats in Northern Germany. Parasitol Res. 2012; 111(2):849-857.
Millán J, Casanova JC. High prevalence of hel-minth parasites in feral cats in Majorca Island (Spain). Parasitol Res. 2009; 106(1):183-188.
Abu-Madi MA, Behnke JM, Prabhaker KS, Al-Ibrahim R, Lewis JW. Intestinal helminths of feral cat populations from urban and suburban districts of Qatar. Vet Parasitol. 2010; 168(3-4):284-292.
Mircean V, Titilincu A, Vasile C. Prevalence of endoparasites in household cat (Felis catus) populations from Transylvania (Romania) and association with risk factors. Vet Parasitol. 2010; 171(1-2):163-166.
Khalafalla RE. A survey study on gastrointesti-nal parasites of stray cats in northern region of Nile delta, Egypt. Plos One. 2011; 6(7):e20283.
Borthakur SK, Mukharjee SN. Gastrointestinal helminthes in stray cats (Felis catus) from Ai-zawl, Mizoram, India. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2011; 42(2):255-258.
Barutzki D, Schaper R. Results of parasito-logical examinations of faecal samples from cats and dogs in Germany between 2003 and 2010. Parasitol Res. 2011; 109(1):S45-60.
Lucio-Forster A, Bowman DD. Prevalence of fecal-borne parasites detected by centrifugal flotation in feline samples from two shelters in upstate New York. J Feline Med Surg.2011; 13(4):300-303.
Nareaho A, Puomio J, Saarinen K, Jokelainen P, Juselius T, Sukura A. Feline intestinal para-sites in Finland: prevalence, risk factors and an-thelmintic treatment practices. J Feline Med Surg. 2012; 14(6):378-383.
Motazedian H, Mehrabani D, Tabatabaee SH, Pakniat A, Tavalali M. Prevalence of helminth ova in soil samples from public places in Shi-raz. East Mediterr Health J. 2006; 12(5):562-565.
Zibaei M, Sadjjadi SM. Prevalence of helminth ova in soil samples from public places in Shi-raz. East Mediterr Health J. 2010; 16(5):580.
Zibaei M, Abdollahpour F, Birjandi M, Firoozeh F. Soil contamination with Toxocara spp. eggs in the public parks from three areas of Khorram Abad, Iran. Nepal Med Coll J. 2010; 12(2):63-65.
Khazan H, Khazaei M, Tabaee SS, Mehrabi A. Prevalence of Toxocara Spp. eggs in Public Parks in Tehran City, Iran. Iran J Parasitol. 2012; 7(3):38-42.
Sadjjadi SM, Oryan A, Jalali AR, Mehrabani D. Prevalence and intensity of infestation with Toxocara cati stray cats in Shiraz, Iran. Veterinar-ski Archiv. 2001; 71(3):149-157.
Zibaei M, Sadjjadi SM, Sarkari B. Prevalence of Toxocara cati and other intestinal helminths in stray cats in Shiraz, Iran. Trop Biomed. 2007; 24(2):39-43.
Sharif M, Nasrolahei M, Ziapour SP, Gholami S, Ziaei H, Daryani A, et al. Toxocara cati infec-tions in stray cats in Northern Iran. J Helmin-thol. 2007; 81:63-66.
Changizi E, Mobedi I, Salimi-Bejestani MR, Rezaei-Doust A. Gastrointestinal Helminthic Parasites in Stray Cats (from North of Iran). Iranian J Parasitol. 2007; 2(4):25-29.
Arbabi M, Hooshyar H. Gastrointestinal para-sites of stray cats in Kashan, Iran. Trop Bio-med. 2009; 26(1):16-22.
Esmaeilzadeh M, Shamsfard M, Kazemi A, Khalafi SA, Altome SA. Prevalence of Proto-zoa and Gastrointestinal Helminthes in Stray Cats in Zanjan Province, North-West of Iran. Iranian J Parasitol. 2009; 4(3):71-75.
Borji H, Razmi GR, Karami HR, Yaghfoori S, Ahmadi A, Abedi V. A survey on endopara-sites and ectoparasites of stray cats from Mash-had (Iran) and association with risk factors. J Parasit Dis. 2011; 35(2):202-206.
Pezeshki A, Zarebavani M, Rezaeian M. Toxo-cara cati infection in cats in Tehran and their im-portance in medicine. Asian Pacific J Trop Bi-omed. 2012:1-2.
Sadjjadi SM, Khosravi M, Mehrabani D, Orya A. Seroprevalence of Toxocara infection in school children in Shiraz, southern Iran. J Trop Pediatr. 2000; 46(6):327-330.
Soulsby EJL. Helminths, Arthropods and Pro-tozoa of Domesticated Animals. Bailliere Tin-dall London, UK; 1982.
Yamaguti S. Systema Helminthum: Nematodes of vertebrates. Inter Science publisher Inc. New York, USA; 1961.
Li MW, Lin RQ, Song HQ, Sani RA, Wu XY, Zhu XQ. Electrophoretic analysis of sequence variability in three mitochondrial DNA regions for ascaridoid parasites of human and animal health significance. Electrophoresis. 2008; 29:2912-2917.
Li MW, Lin RQ, Chen HH, Sani RA, Song HQ, Zhu XQ. PCR tools for the verification
of the specific identity of ascaridoid nematodes from dogs and cats. Mol Cell Probes. 2007; 21:349-354.
Glickman LT, Schantz PM. Epidemiology and pathogenesis of zoonotic toxocariasis. Epi-demiol Rev. 1981; 3:230-250.
Lee CC, Cheng NABY, Bohari Y. Toxocara canis from domestic cats in Kuala Lumpur. Trop Biomed. 1993; 10:79-80.
Zhu XQ, Jacobs DE, Chilton NB, Sani RA, Cheng NA, Gasser RB. Molecular characteriza-tion of a Toxocara variant from cats in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Parasitol. 1998; 117(Pt 2):155-164.
Gibbons LM, Jacobs DE, Sani RA. Toxocara malaysiensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Ascaridoidea) from the domestic cat (Feliscatus Linnaeus, 1758). J Parasitol. 2001; 87:660-665.
Li MW, Zhu XQ, Gasser RB, Lin RQ, Sani RA, Lun ZR, et al. The occurrence of Toxocara malaysiensis in cats in China, confirmed by se-quence based analyses of ribosomal DNA. Parasitol Res. 2006; 99:554-557.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 8 No 4 (2013) | |
| Section | Articles | |
| Keywords | ||
| Cat Intensity Iran Molecular Toxocara cati | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
|
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
