Warm wishes for a happy holiday and a joyful New Year!
Penguins are featured on our e-card and you can find out about parasites in penguins and other wildlife in our ASP journal IJP Parasites and Wildlife, one of a suite of Elsevier Parasitology Journals, International Journal for Parasitology; IJP Drugs and Drug Resistance and IJP PAW.
Here is an article published in IJP PAW by one of our ASP members, Richard Bradbury.
Meredith Lane, Mitra Kashani, Joel LN. Barratt, Yvonne Qvarnstrom, Michael J. Yabsley, Kayla B. Garrett, Richard S. Bradbury,
“Application of a universal parasite diagnostic test to biological specimens collected from animals,” International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, Volume 20, 2023, Pages 20-30, ISSN 2213-2244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2022.12.003
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213224422001092)
Abstract: A previously described universal parasite diagnostic (nUPDx) based on PCR amplification of the 18S rDNA and deep-amplicon sequencing, can detect human blood parasites with a sensitivity comparable to real-time PCR. To date, the efficacy of this assay has only been assessed on human blood. This study assessed the utility of nUPDx for the detection of parasitic infections in animals using blood, tissues, and other biological sample types from mammals, birds, and reptiles, known to be infected with helminth, apicomplexan, or pentastomid parasites (confirmed by microscopy or PCR), as well as negative samples. nUPDx confirmed apicomplexan and/or nematode infections in 24 of 32 parasite-positive mammals, while also identifying several undetected coinfections. nUPDx detected infections in 6 of 13 positive bird and 1 of 2 positive reptile samples. When applied to 10 whole parasite specimens (worms and arthropods), nUPDx identified all to the genus or family level, and detected one incorrect identification made by morphology. Babesia sp. infections were detected in 5 of the 13 samples that were negative by other diagnostic approaches. While nUPDx did not detect PCR/microscopy-confirmed trichomonads or amoebae in cloacal swabs/tissue from 8 birds and 2 reptiles due to primer template mismatches, 4 previously undetected apicomplexans were detected in these samples. Future efforts to improve the utility of the assay should focus on validation against a larger panel of tissue types and animal species. Overall, nUPDx shows promise for use in both veterinary diagnostics and wildlife surveillance, especially because species-specific PCRs can miss unknown or unexpected pathogens.
