Browsing by Author "Rupa, Fatema Hashem"

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Brief review on atypical human trypanosomiasis of trypanosoma lewisi
(2016) Mafie, Eliakunda; Rupa, Fatema Hashem; Setsuda, Aogu; Saito-Ito, Atsuko; Sato, Hiroshi
Trypanosomes (Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatida: Trypanosomatidae), particularly salivarian trypanosome species as well as stercorarian Trypanosoma cruzi, are important parasites of humans and other animals that cause often fatal diseases. Stercorarian T. lewisi is known as a rat-specific species of the subgenus Herpetosoma. Rodent trypanosomes cause latent infections, and T. lewisi infection beyond the genus border, e.g. infection in mice, is considered to be virtually impossible. Nevertheless, nine human cases of T. lewisi infection have been reported in recent decades, with an increased incidence (five cases) in the last two decades. In the present review, we summarize the records of atypical human trypanosomiasis ascribed to T. lewisi infection and provide information on the background of disease incidences and possible PCR-based diagnostic approaches.
Endoparasites of Vietnamese lizards recorded in the last 50 years (1966−2015)
(2016) Thi Tran, Binh; Nguyen, Son Truong; Nguyen, Tao Thien; Van Luc, Pham; Mafie, Eliakunda; Rupa, Fatema Hashem; Sato, Hiroshi
At present, there is a limited knowledge of amphibian and reptile parasites in Vietnam. To date, 45 species of endoparasite in Vietnamese lizards have been recorded. These species consist of 11 cestode, 12 trematode, 18 nematode, one acanthocephalan and three pentastomid species from 10 host species. As Vietnam is one of the global hot spots for herpetofauna diversity (a recent report documented 385 reptiles and 181 amphibians in the country), it appears that only a fraction of the parasites of lizards in this richly biodiverse territory has been recorded. To facilitate the accurate taxonomical identification of parasites and clarify the taxonomic relationship of parasites from Vietnamese lizards with those from Oriental lizards or lizards of other geographical regions, parasites should be characterized both morphologically and phylogenetically.
First record of trypanosoma dionisii of the T. cruzi clade from the Eastern bent-winged bat (miniopterus fuliginosus) in the far East
(Springer, 2018) Mafie, Eliakunda; Rupa, Fatema Hashem; Takano, Ai; Suzuki, Kazuo; Maeda, Ken; Sato, Hiroshi
Chiropteran mammals worldwide harbour trypanosomes (Euglenozoa: Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatida) of the subgenus ‘Schizotrypanum’ in the classical sense. Latterly, these trypanosomes have been referred to as members of the ‘Trypanosoma cruzi clade’ as their phylogenetic relationships, structure and life cycle conform to T. cruzi, parasitising various terrestrial mammals as well as humans in Latin America. Little is known, however, about the trypanosome species in Asian bats. During a survey on Borrelia spp. in the Eastern bent-winged bat (Miniopterus fuliginosus) living in a cave in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, incidental proliferation of trypanosomes was detected in two of 94 haemocultures. Squat or slender trypano- somes that proliferated in the cultures were 7.5–20.5 μm in length between both body ends and 1.0–3.8 μm in width with/without free flagella up to 14.5 μm (n = 29). The nucleotide sequences of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA; 2176 bp), large subunit ribosomal RNA gene (1365 bp) and glycosomal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (gGAPDH; 843 bp) of the present isolates were characterized to clarify their molecular phylogenetic position in T. cruzi-like trypanosomes. The newly obtained SSU rDNA and gGAPDH nucleotide sequences showed the highest identities with Brazilian and European isolates of Trypanosoma dionisii of the T. cruzi clade, ranging between 99.4 and 99.7% or between 95.6 and 99.3% identities, respectively. Although multiple T. dionisii isolates from the North and South American continents showed the closest molecular genetic relatedness to the present Far East isolates, only short SSU rDNA segments of the former isolates were deposited. Therefore, a definitive conclusion cannot be made until full nucleotide sequencing of at least the American isolates’ SSU rDNA is available. This is the first confirmation of a Far East distribution of T. dionisii, demonstrating a wide geographical distribution of the species in the Eurasian and American continents with a limited nucleotide variation.