The use of real-time PCR to identify Entamoeba histolytica and E. dispar infections in prisoners and primary-school children in Ethiopia.
In Ethiopia, it is generally unknown what proportion of the amoebic infections commonly found, by microscopy, in humans are caused by non-invasive Entamoeba dispar rather than the potentially invasive E. histolytica. Faecal samples were therefore collected from 363 primary-school students and 409 prisoners from various regions of Ethiopia. Each of these samples was checked for Entamoeba infection by the microscopical examination of formol-ether concentrates. DNA was then extracted from the 213 samples (27.6%) found Entamoeba-positive, and run in a real-time PCR with primers, based on the SSU-rRNA gene sequences of E. histolytica and E. dispar, that allow DNA from the two species to be distinguished. Although E. dispar DNA was identified in 195 (91.5%) of the 213 samples checked by PCR, no E. histolytica DNA was detected. This finding is consistent with the conclusion of a previous, smaller investigation: that many amoebic infections in Ethiopia are incorrectly attributed to E. histolytica and then treated, unnecessarily, with amoebicidal drugs.
Kebede
A
A
Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, PO Box 1242, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. amha@enarp.com
Verweij
J J
JJ
Endeshaw
T
T
Messele
T
T
Tasew
G
G
Petros
B
B
Polderman
A M
AM
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis; D004747:Entamoeba / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004748:Entamoeba histolytica / Q000235:genetics; D004749:Entamoebiasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D011329:Prisoners
D016054:DNA, Protozoan