title: Morphometric differentiation between camel and sheep strains of Echinococcus granulosus using computer image analysis system (CIAS).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find importance of morphometric criterion of larval rostellar hook of Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus) and the easy and reliable method for distinguish sheep and camel strains in epidemiologic studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Larval rostellar hooks (n=1860) of 31 camel and sheep isolates in Iran, which already had been characterized by PCR, were carefully processed by computerized imagime analysis system (CIAS) and acquired data about rostellar hooks were analyzed using software SPSS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Measurement analysis of rostellar hooks [mean length (24.23±3.12) μ m] indicated that length of the large hook was a remarkable parameter for strain differentiation. Data analysis demonstrated that CIAS could be used as a reliable tool to distinguish camel from sheep strains with high sensitivity (95.2%) and specificity (91.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CIAS as a specific, sensitive, economic, fast, and reliable means might be used for differentiation of E. granulosus strains. Although perimeter and area were measured by digital technology, they were not shown as discriminative criterion as total hook length did.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology & Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mowlavi
authors.forename: Mitra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.forename: Mohammadreza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eshraghian
authors.forename: Mohammad Bagher
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Rokni
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fasihi-Harandi
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mohajeran
authors.forename: Abdoreza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salahi-Moghaddam
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002162:Camelus / Q000469:parasitology*; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D048209:Echinococcus granulosus / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007492:Iran; D007814:Larva; D015588:Observer Variation; D012756:Sheep / Q000469:parasitology*; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013045:Species Specificity