title: Monitoring the Prevalence of Leucocytozoon sabrazesi in Southern China and Testing Tricyclic Compounds against Gametocytes.
abstract: Leucocytozoon parasites infect many species of avian hosts, including domestic chicken, and can inflict heavy economic loss on the poultry industry. Two major species of Leucocytozoon parasites have been reported in China, L. sabrazesi and L. caulleryi, although L. sabrazesi appears to be more widespread than L. caulleryi in southern China. The traditional method for detecting Leucocytozoon infection is microscopic examination of blood smears for the presence of mature gametocytes in circulation, which may miss infections with low parasitemia (gametocytemia) or immature gametocytes. Here we developed a PCR-based method to monitor L. sabrazesi infections at seven sites in four provinces of China after testing two PCR primer pairs based on parasite mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) and cytochrome c oxidase III (coxIII) genes. We compared the results of PCR detection with those of microscopic observation. As expected, the PCR assays were more sensitive than microscope examination in detecting L. sabrazesi infection and were able to detect parasite DNA after gametocytes disappeared in the blood stream. Using these methods, we investigated monthly dynamics of L. sabrazesi in chickens from a free-range farm in Xiamen, Fujian province of China, over one year. Our results showed that chickens were infected with L. sabrazesi year-round in southern China. Finally, we tested several compounds for potential treatment of Leucocytozoon infections, including primaquine, ketotifen, clomipramine hydrochloride, desipramine hydrochloride, sulfaquinoxaline, and pyrimethamine. Only primaquine had activity against L. sabrazesi gametocytes. Our results provide important information for controlling parasite transmission in southern China and disease management.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, P. R. China.
authors: Wenting
authors: W
authors: Zhao
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, P. R. China.
authors: Qin
authors: Q
authors: Pang
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, P. R. China.
authors: Ruixue
authors: R
authors: Xu
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, P. R. China.
authors: Jianwen
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, P. R. China.
authors: Shengfa
authors: S
authors: Liu
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, P. R. China.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, P. R. China.|Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States of America.
authors: Xin-Zhuan
authors: XZ
authors: Su
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000469:parasitology; D002681:China; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016787:Haemosporida / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan