ABSTRACT
Background: Trichosomoides crassicaud, a nematode of Trichuridae, maybe found in kidney, and ureters of their rats. In Iran, it is a parasite of rats, too
Materials and methods: In this laboratory study, the morphological characterization of this species from rattus spp. was compared with other reports in the world. Trichosomoides crassicauda was obtained from the bladders and ureters of two species of rattus including brown rat [R. norvegicus] and black rat [R.rattus]. After trapping the rodents, they were dissected and their urinary organs were examined. In case of infectivity with Trichosomoides crassicauda, the nematode was gently removed and after clearing and staining, the details were observed by light microscope
Results: The male and female of Trichosomoides crassicauda were measured 1-3 mm by length and 20-40im by wide and 8-18mm by length and 180-2 50im by wide, respectively. The eggs measured 50-80 im long
Conclusions: There is a minor difference between the measurements of Trichosomoides crassicauda in current study with similar reports in the world. This difference is probably due to existence of different strains of Trichosomoides crassicauda in various geographical regions and also partly as a result of age effect
ABSTRACT
The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica causes fascioliasis, a liver disease in most part of the world and particularly in north of Iran. Diagnosis of the diseases is anchored in coprological manner but serological methods are preferable due to some obscurities. In this study, sera obtained from human patients infected with Fasciola hepatica were tested by the enzymelinked immunotrotransfer blot [EITB] technique with the parasite's somatic and excretory-secretory [ES] antigens in order to evaluate the diagnostic potential of the assay. The study included sera from 40 patients infected with F. hepatica, 20 infected with hydatidosis, 6 with toxocariasis, 10 with strongyloidiasis, 10 with amoebiasis, 5 with malaria and 30 normal controls. By this assay, most pf the serum samples from humans with fascioliasis recognized two antigenic polypeptides of 27 and 29 kDa using both antigens. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for somatic antigen were 91.0%, 96.2%, 95.2% and 92.7% respectively, while these parameters as for ES antigen were 95.2%, 98.0%, 97.5% and 96.2%, correspondingly. Totally, two cases of reactions for the first antigen and one for the latter were verified. The study suggests that the 27 and 29 kDa bands for two antigens in EITB test could be considered for the immunodiagnosis of human fascioliasis