title: Finding Wolbachia in Filarial larvae and Culicidae Mosquitoes in Upper Egypt Governorate.
abstract: Wolbachia is an obligatory intracellular endosymbiotic bacterium, present in over 20% of all insects altering insect reproductive capabilities and in a wide range of filarial worms which is essential for worm survival and reproduction. In Egypt, no available data were found about Wolbachia searching for it in either mosquitoes or filarial worms. Thus, we aimed to identify the possible concurrent presence of Wolbachia within different mosquitoes and filarial parasites, in Assiut Governorate, Egypt using multiplex PCR. Initially, 6 pools were detected positive for Wolbachia by single PCR. The simultaneous detection of Wolbachia and filarial parasites (Wuchereria bancrofti, Dirofilaria immitis, and Dirofilaria repens) by multiplex PCR was spotted in 5 out of 6 pools, with an overall estimated rate of infection (ERI) of 0.24%. Unexpectedly, the highest ERI (0.53%) was for Anopheles pharoensis with related Wolbachia and W. bancrofti, followed by Aedes (0.42%) and Culex (0.26%). We also observed that Wolbachia altered Culex spp. as a primary vector for W. bancrofti to be replaced by Anopheles sp. Wolbachia within filaria-infected mosquitoes in our locality gives a hope to use bacteria as a new control trend simultaneously targeting the vector and filarial parasites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dyab
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
authors.forename: Lamia A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Galal
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
authors.forename: Abeer E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Mahmoud
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
authors.forename: Yasser
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mokhtar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009033:Culicidae / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D004183:Dirofilaria immitis / Q000382:microbiology*; D060348:Dirofilaria repens / Q000382:microbiology*; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D060885:Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014958:Wuchereria bancrofti / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Culicidae; Dirofilaria immitis; Dirofilaria repens; Wolbachia; Wuchereria bancrofti; filaria; multiplex PCR; single PCR