title: Discovery of Paragonimus westermani in Vietnam and its molecular phylogenetic status in P. westermani complex.
abstract: Paragonimus westermani is the most well-known species among the genus Paragonimus. It is widely distributed in Asia with considerable genetic diversity to form P. westermani species complex. While P. westermani distributed in Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan are genetically homogeneous to form the East Asia group, those found in other geographic areas are heterogeneous and would be divided into several groups. Recent discoveries of P. westermani in India and Sri Lanka highlighted new insights on molecular phylogenetic relationship of geographic isolates of this species complex. Since Vietnam is located at the east end of Southeast Asia, the intermediate position between South and East Asia, it is of interest to see whether P. westermani is distributed in this country. Here, we report that P. westermani metacercariae were found in mountainous crabs, Potamiscus sp., collected in Quangtri province in the central Vietnam. Adult worms were successfully obtained by experimental infection in cats. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that P. westermani of Vietnamese isolates have high similarities with those of East Asia group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam. pndoanh@iebr.ac.vn
authors.forename: Pham Ngoc
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Doanh
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.forename: Yoichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Horii
authors.forename: Shigehisa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Habe
authors.forename: Yukifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003386:Brachyura / Q000469:parasitology*; D002415:Cats; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008853:Microscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010237:Paragonimiasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D048492:Paragonimus westermani / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014744:Vietnam
chemical_list: D018509:DNA, Helminth; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer