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Detection of Kobe-type Babesia microti associated with Japanese human babesiosis in field rodents in central Taiwan and southeastern mainland China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2008

A. SAITO-ITO ,
N. TAKADA ,
F. ISHIGURO ,
H. FUJITA ,
Y. YANO ,
X.-H. MA  and
E.-R. CHEN
A. SAITO-ITO*
Affiliation:
Section of Parasitology, Division of Microbiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe 650-0017, Japan
N. TAKADA
Affiliation:
Department of Pathological Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1193, Japan
F. ISHIGURO
Affiliation:
Fukui Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Fukui 910-8551, Japan
H. FUJITA
Affiliation:
Ohara Research Laboratory, Ohara General Hospital, Fukushima 960-0195, Japan
Y. YANO
Affiliation:
Department of Pathological Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Fukui 910-1193, Japan
X.-H. MA
Affiliation:
College of Life Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, People's Republic of China
E.-R. CHEN
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
*
*Corresponding author: Section of Parasitology, Division of Microbiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan. Tel: +81 78 382 5620. Fax: +81 78 382 5519. E-mail: atsuko@med.kobe-u.ac.jp
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Summary

Field rodent surveys for Babesia infection were performed from 2002 to 2005 in the vicinities of human babesiosis occurrences in Taiwan and mainland China. Babesia microti was identified by microscopical examination and/or PCR in 1 Rattus coxinga and 1 Crocidura horsfieldii in central Taiwan and in 13 Niviventer confucianus and 1 Apodemus agrarius in Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces of southeastern China. Of 15 B. microti samples detected by PCR, all except 1 were shown to be the Kobe-type, the aetiological small subunit rRNA gene-type of the first Japanese patient; the exception was also a Kobe-related type. The Kobe-type had been found in rodents only in a few places including the human infection occurrence place in Japan. The internal transcribed spacer 1 to 2 sequences of the Taiwanese and Chinese Kobe-types were very similar to each other but considerably different (approx. 94% pairwise identities) from that of the Japanese Kobe-type. A Taiwanese Kobe-type strain was serologically differentiated from the Kobe strain originating from the Japanese first patient. The distribution of the Kobe-type in the vicinities of human babesiosis occurrences in Taiwan and China as well as in Japan is suggestive of involvement of the Kobe-type in Asian human babesiosis.

Keywords

Babesia microtihuman babesiosisAsiarodentsmall subunit rRNA geneinternal transcribed spacersgenotypeserotype
Type
Original Articles
Information
Parasitology , Volume 135 , Issue 6 , May 2008 , pp. 691 - 699
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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