Diptera (Insecta: Pterygota) larvae as predators of Strongyloides stercoralis causing false negative stool cultures

Pedro E Fleitas; Ximena G Acosta; Paola A Vargas; Nicolas Caro; Alejandro J Krolewiecki; Julio R Nasser; Rubén O Cimino

doi:10.1016/j.idcr.2022.e01387

Diptera (Insecta: Pterygota) larvae as predators of Strongyloides stercoralis causing false negative stool cultures

IDCases. 2022 Jan 6:27:e01387. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2022.e01387. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Pedro E Fleitas^{1

2

3}, Ximena G Acosta^{3

4}, Paola A Vargas¹, Nicolas Caro¹, Alejandro J Krolewiecki^{1

3}, Julio R Nasser², Rubén O Cimino^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Universidad Nacional de Salta, Sede Regional Orán, Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales (IIET), Salta, Argentina.
² Universidad Nacional de Salta, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Cátedra de Química Biológica, Salta, Argentina.
³ Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientíﬁcas y Técnicas (CONICET), CCT-Salta, Salta, Argentina.
⁴ Universidad Nacional de Salta, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales Salta, Instituto para el Estudio de la Biodiversidad de Invertebrados (IEBI), Salta, Argentina.

Abstract

A stool sample of a five-year-old boy with suspected STH infection arrived at the Laboratory of the Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales (IIET), National University of Salta in Oran, province of Salta, Argentina in 2017. Three Harada Mori were prepared, of which only one showed the presence of S. stercoralis. In the other two, the presence of an unknown larva was observed, which was later identified as an insect larva of the Diptera order. PCR analysis of the liquid medium of Harada Mori and Diptera larvae revealed presence of S. stercoralis DNA. These results, added to the predatory characteristics of the dipteran larvae, indicate that the S. stercoralis larvae were prey for these organisms, resulting in a negative diagnosis for S. stercoralis in the Harada Mori.

Keywords: Diptera; Harada Mori; S. stercoralis.

Publication types

Case Reports