Genetic Diversity of Schistosoma haematobium in Qena Governorate, Upper Egypt

Asmaa M El-Kady; Mostafa I El-Amir; Mohammed H Hassan; Khaled S Allemailem; Ahmad Almatroudi; Alzahraa Abdelraouf Ahmad

doi:10.2147/IDR.S266928

Genetic Diversity of Schistosoma haematobium in Qena Governorate, Upper Egypt

Infect Drug Resist. 2020 Oct 15:13:3601-3611. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S266928. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Asmaa M El-Kady¹, Mostafa I El-Amir², Mohammed H Hassan³, Khaled S Allemailem⁴, Ahmad Almatroudi⁴, Alzahraa Abdelraouf Ahmad⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt.
² Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt.
³ Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudia Arabia.
⁵ Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

Abstract

Introduction: Schistosomiasis is an important neglected tropical disease (NTD) in several developing countries. Praziquantel is the principle and efficacious chemotherapeutic agent that has been used to treat schistosomiasis for decades. Unfortunately, emerging resistance to praziquantel with accompanying reduced efficacy is reported in some localities. Hence, genetic diversity among parasite populations is of significant interest in assessing the effects of selective pressure generated by praziquantel therapy that might result in encouraging the emergence of new genotypes that are either non-susceptible or drug-resistant. The present study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of Schistosoma haematobium among human populations using the RAPD technique to help clarify disease epidemiology and transmission.

Materials and methods: S. haematobium eggs were isolated from 50 of 134 patients from four different localities in Qena Governorate, Upper Egypt. These patients complained of terminal hematuria and burning micturition. Samples were used for molecular analysis using RAPD-PCR primers (A02, A07, A09, A10).

Results: Twenty S. haematobium isolates (40%) were amplified using the selected RAPD primers. Amplification patterns of these isolates showed distinct variation in the size and number of amplified fragments, indicating high genetic variation among these isolates.

Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to characterize the genetic diversity of S. haematobium in human populations in Upper Egypt. Future studies on a larger geographic scale involving many districts in Upper Egypt should be encouraged. Information from such a study would provide better insight into clonal lineages of S. haematobium in this endemic area. In turn, understanding transmission of the parasite may have a major role in establishing control strategies for urogenital schistosomiasis in Upper Egypt.

Keywords: RAPD; Schistosomiasis haematobium; Upper Egypt; genetic diversity.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from south valley university, Qena, Egypt (Grant No.4/2018). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation of the data or preparation of the manuscript.