ABSTRACT
During the mobile clinic activities in Tak Province, Thailand, Paragonimus sp. eggs were found in a fecal sample of a 72-year-old Karen resident. Paragonimus DNA was amplified from the stool sample and identified to P. heterotremus. The patient did not have any symptoms. Apparent pulmonary lesion was not found on the chest X-ray. The patient admitted habitual consumption of semi-cooked or roasted waterfall crabs for several years. The waterfall crabs collected from stream near the village were found negative for Paragonimus metacercariae. In northern Thailand, paragonimiasis remains as one of the public health concerns and should be ruled out for asymptomatic pulmonary patients.
ABSTRACT
Twelve 924 bp cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) mitochondrial DNA sequences from Taenia asiatica isolates from Thailand were aligned and compared with multiple sequence isolates from Thailand and 6 other countries from the GenBank database. The genetic divergence of T. asiatica was also compared with Taenia saginata database sequences from 6 different countries in Asia, including Thailand, and 3 countries from other continents. The results showed that there were minor genetic variations within T. asiatica species, while high intraspecies variation was found in T. saginata. There were only 2 haplotypes and 1 polymorphic site found in T. asiatica, but 8 haplotypes and 9 polymorphic sites in T. saginata. Haplotype diversity was very low, 0.067, in T. asiatica and high, 0.700, in T. saginata. The very low genetic diversity suggested that T. asiatica may be at a risk due to the loss of potential adaptive alleles, resulting in reduced viability and decreased responses to environmental changes, which may endanger the species.