ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2021
Investigation of neglected protists Blastocystis sp. and Dientamoeba fragilis in immunocompetent and immunodeficient diarrheal patients using both conventional and molecular methods.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular epidemiology and genotype diversity of Dientamoeba fragilis in a Czech hospital-based cohort: higher prevalence in paediatric patients and evidence of mixed G1/G2 infection in a single patient.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2026Article
- Review
- Next-Gen intestinal parasite detection: Leveraging metataxonomics for improved diagnosis of intestinal protists and helminths.PloS one · 2026Article
- Associations between Blastocystis spp., Campylobacter spp., Giardia duodenalis and Dientamoeba fragilis using Bayesian priors to account for diagnostic test accuracy.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2025Article
- Assessment of immunological and hematological parameters in Blastocystis species-infected chronic leukemic patients.Gut pathogens · 2025Article
- Unveiling the hidden threat: prevalence of Enterocytozoon bieneusi and other intestinal parasitic infections among organ transplant recipients in Southern Iran.Gut pathogens · 2025Article
- AnthropogenicMicroorganisms · 2025Article
- Diagnostic dilemma: application of real-time PCR assays for the detection of Dientamoeba fragilis in medical and veterinary specimens.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- One Health Disparities and Blastocystis infection among smallholder farmers in northeastern Madagascar.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Article
- A cross-sectional survey ofOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Article
- Asymptomatic carriage of intestinal protists is common in children in Lusaka Province, Zambia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Climate influences the gut eukaryome of wild rodents in the Great Rift Valley of Jordan.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- Subtype Distribution ofMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- Molecular detection and genotyping of Dientamoeba fragilis and Blastocystis sp. in housefly Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae): first report for Dientamoeba fragilis.Parasitology research · 2024Article
- Prevalence ofNew microbes and new infections · 2024Article
- Article
- Molecular Prevalence and Subtypes Distribution ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Review
- No evidence of pathogenicity of Dientamoeba fragilis following detection in stools: A case-control study.Parasite (Paris, France) · 2024Article
- Exploring Blastocystis genetic diversity in rural schoolchildren from Colombia using next-generation amplicon sequencing reveals significant associations between contact with animals and infection risk.Parasitology research · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe clinical significance of Blastocystis sp. and Dientamoeba fragilis in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms is a controversial issue. Since the pathogenicity of these protists has not been fully elucidated, testing for these organisms is not routinely pursued by most laboratories and clinicians. Thus, the prevalence of these organisms and the subtypes of Blastocystis sp. in human patients in Turkey are not well characterized. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Blastocystis sp. and D. fragilis in the diarrheic stool samples of immunodeficient and immunocompetent patients using conventional and molecular methods and to identify Blastocystis sp. subtypes using next generation sequencing. MATERIAL AND
methodsIndividual stool specimens were collected from 245 immunodeficient and 193 immunocompetent diarrheic patients between March 2017 and December 2019 at the Gazi University Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, Turkey. Samples were screened for Blastocystis sp. and D. fragilis by conventional and molecular methods. Molecular detection of both protists was achieved by separate qPCRs targeting a partial fragment of the SSU rRNA gene. Next generation sequencing was used to identify Blastocystis sp. subtypes.
resultsThe prevalence of Blastocystis sp. and D. fragilis was 16.7% and 11.9%, respectively as measured by qPCR. The prevalence of Blastocystis sp. and D. fragilis was lower in immunodeficient patients (12.7% and 10.6%, respectively) compared to immunocompetent patients (21.8% and 13.5%, respectively). Five Blastocystis sp. subtypes were identified and the following subtype distribution was observed: ST3 54.4% (n = 37), ST2 16.2% (n = 11), ST1 4.4% (n = 3), ST6 2.9% (n = 2), ST4 1.5% (n = 1), ST2/ST3 11.8% (n = 8) and ST1/ST3 8.8% (n = 6). There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of Blastocystis sp. subtypes between immunocompetent and immunodeficient patients. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Our findings demonstrated that Blastocystis sp. and D. fragilis are commonly present in immunocompetent and immunodeficient patients with diarrhea. This study is the first to use next generation sequencing to address the presence of Blastocystis sp. mixed subtypes and intra-subtype variability in clinical samples in Turkey.
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