title: Prevalence and Subtype Identification of Blastocystis sp. in Healthy Individuals in the Tunis Area, Tunisia.
abstract: Blastocystis sp. is currently the most common eukaryotic parasite found in humans. Despite its potential public health impact, epidemiological data regarding its prevalence and molecular subtype (ST) distribution in Maghreb are rarely reported. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the parasite in a cohort of healthy food handler Tunisian individuals and to acquire the first molecular data regarding the distribution of Blastocystis sp. STs in this country. Therefore, 524 fecal samples were collected, and 68 of them (13%) were identified as positive for the parasite by direct-light microscopy of smears. Seventeen samples of 100 negative by microscopy were also shown to be positive by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Among all the positive samples, 61 Blastocystis isolates were subtyped using partial small subunit ribosomal RNA gene analysis. ST3 was the most abundant (51%) followed by ST1 (30%), ST2 (16%), and ST4 and ST7 (both 1.6%).
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.|Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Imène
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ben Abda
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.|Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maatoug
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Rania
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ben Romdhane
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Nada
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bouhelmi
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Najet
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zallegua
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.|Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoun
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Infection et d'Immunité de Lille, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Université de Lille, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Viscogliosi
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. aida.bouratbine@pasteur.rns.tn.|Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Aïda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouratbine
mesh_terms: D016844:Blastocystis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016776:Blastocystis Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology