Prevalence and subtypes of Blastocystis among migrant workers from different working sectors in Peninsular Malaysia
- PDF / 217,874 Bytes
- 4 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 94 Downloads / 197 Views
PROTOZOOLOGY - SHORT COMMUNICATION
Prevalence and subtypes of Blastocystis among migrant workers from different working sectors in Peninsular Malaysia Norhidayu Sahimin 1 & Farah Haziqah Meor Termizi 2 & Arutchelvan Rajamanikam 3 & Nur Asyiqin Mohd Nazri 4 & Suresh Kumar Govind 3 & Siti Nursheena Mohd Zain 4 Received: 10 December 2019 / Accepted: 24 August 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Blastocystis sp. is a common enteric parasite of humans and animals associated with inadequate sanitation and poor personal hygiene. Over the years, the Malaysian thriving economy has been facilitated largely by migrant workers from developing countries, and there is concern that diseases endemic to their countries may be imported. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the current status of Blastocystis infection as well as subtypes (STs) from fecal samples among migrant workers in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Overall, almost a third of the study cohort (30.9%; n = 68/220) screened were infected with Blastocystis sp. predominantly with ST3 (54.5%; n = 12), followed by ST1 (36.4%; n = 8) and ST2 (9.1%; n = 2). Infection levels was almost similar among the different sectors; manufacturing (32.8%), domestic service (32.3%), and food service (27.3%) with common symptoms for infection included stomach and abdominal pain or discomfort and diarrhea (48.5%; n = 33). None of the socio-demographic risk factors evaluated were significant. Therefore, this study warrants continuous monitoring as well as understanding the impact of transmission among the migrant community with the local population especially those involved in food service sector. Keywords Blastocystis infections . Malaysia . Migrant workers . Subtyping . Working sector
Introduction Blastocystis sp. is a common protozoan parasite found in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals and humans globally (Tan et al. 2008). Fecal-oral route is considered the main mode of transmission with the cystic form as the infective stage transmitted via contaminated food and water (Ithoi et al. 2011). Clinical symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, flatulence, nausea, and constipation have been linked to Section Editor: Yaoyu Feng * Siti Nursheena Mohd Zain [email protected] 1
Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
3
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4
Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Blastocystis human infection; however, there are reports of asymptomatic individuals. Genetic diversity studies have led to the identification of numerous subtypes (STs) within the genus Blastocystis, and recently 17 ribosomal lineages to which ST1 to ST9 have been recorded in humans, with ST1 to ST4 being the most common subtypes (Alfellani et al. 2013). The
Data Loading...
