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Abstract Chlamydia spp. are obligate intracellular gram-negative bacteria that cause a wide range of significant diseases in humans and animals worldwide, resulting in significant economic losses. Chlamydial infection in cattle has been reported in many countries including China. However, there has been no survey of chlamydial infection of dairy cattle in Guangzhou, southern China. The objective of the present investigation was to examine the chlamydial seroprevalence in dairy cattle in Guangzhou, subtropical southern China by using an indirect hemagglutination assay (IHA). The overall seroprevalence of chlamydial infection in dairy cattle was 7.25% (29/400). Greater than or equal to eight-yr-old dairy cattle had the highest seroprevalence (10.34%), followed by those that were ≥ 6 years old or P > 0.05). Dairy cattle with 5 pregnancies had the highest seroprevalence (10.81%). These results indicate that chlamydial infection was present in dairy cattle in Guangzhou, subtropical southern China, and integrated strategies and measures should be executed to control and prevent chlamydial infection and disease outbreak in the study region.

Abstract Canine and feline parasitic zoonoses have not been given high priority in China, although the role of companion animals as reservoirs for zoonotic parasitic diseases has been recognized worldwide. With an increasing number of dogs and cats under unregulated conditions in China, the canine and feline parasitic zoonoses are showing a trend towards being gradually uncontrolled. Currently, canine and feline parasitic zoonoses threaten human health, and cause death and serious diseases in China. This article comprehensively reviews the current status of major canine and feline parasitic zoonoses in mainland China, discusses the risks dogs and cats pose with regard to zoonotic transmission of canine and feline parasites, and proposes control strategies and measures.

Abstract Background Toxoplasma gondii infection is a global concern, affecting a wide range of warm-blooded animals and humans worldwide, including poultry. Domestic and companion birds are considered to play an important role in the transmission of T. gondii to humans and other animals. However, little information on T. gondii infection in domestic birds in Lanzhou, northwest China was available. Therefore, this study was performed to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in domestic birds in Lanzhou, northwest China. Methods In the present study, the seroprevalence of T. gondii antibodies in 413 (305 caged and 108 free-range) adult chickens, 334 (111 caged and 223 free-range) adult ducks and 312 adult pigeons in Lanzhou, northwest China, were examined using the modified agglutination test (MAT). Results 30 (7.26%) chickens, 38 (11.38%) ducks and 37 (11.86%) pigeons were found to be positive for T. gondii antibodies at the cut-off of 1:5. The prevalences in caged and free-range chickens were 6.23% and 10.19% respectively, however, statistical analysis showed that the difference was not significant (P > 0.05). The seroprevalences in caged and free-range ducks were 6.31% and 13.90% respectively, but the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Conclusions The results of the present survey indicated the presence of T. gondii infection in adult chickens, ducks and pigeons sold for meat in poultry markets in Lanzhou, northwest China, which poses a potential risk for T. gondii infection in humans and other animals in this region. This is the first seroprevalence study of T. gondii infection in domestic birds in this region.

Abstract Background Toxoplasma gondii is an important protozoan parasite infecting humans and almost all warm-blooded animals. As the only definitive host, cats play a crucial role in the transmission of T. gondii infection by shedding parasite oocysts in their feces. However, little information on T. gondii infection in cats was available in Lanzhou, northwest China. This study was performed to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in household and stray cats in Lanzhou, northwest China. Results A total of 221 (179 households and 42 strays) blood samples were collected from clinically healthy cats admitted to several pet hospitals located in Lanzhou City, between November 2010 and July 2011 for the serological detection of T. gondii infection. The majority (207) of these cats represented Chinese Lihua cats. 47 of 221 (21.3%) examined cats were seropositive for T. gondii infection using the modified agglutination test (MAT) at the cut-off of 1:25. The seroprevalence in household and stray cats was assessed to be 15.6% and 45.2%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). The seroprevalence ranged from 15.1% to 25.8% among different age groups, but the differences were not statistically significant (P >0.05). Studies showed that there was no relationship between seroprevalence and the gender (P >0.05). Conclusions The present survey indicated the high seroprevalence of T. gondii in cats in Lanzhou, northwest China, which poses a threat to animal and human health. Therefore, measures should be taken to control and prevent toxoplasmosis of cats in this area.

Abstract Background Clonorchiasis, caused by Clonorchis sinensis, is one of the major parasitic zoonoses in China, particularly in China's southern Guangdong province where the prevalence of C. sinensis infection in humans is high. However, little is known of the prevalence of C. sinensis infection in its reservoir hosts dogs and cats. Hence, the prevalence of C. sinensis infection in dogs and cats was investigated in Guangdong province, China between October 2006 and March 2008. Results A total of 503 dogs and 194 cats from 13 administrative regions in Guangdong province were examined by post-mortem examination. The worms were examined, counted, and identified to species according to existing keys and descriptions. The average prevalences of C. sinensis infection in dogs and cats were 20.5% and 41.8%, respectively. The infection intensities in dogs were usually light, but in cats the infection intensities were more serious. The prevalences were higher in some of the cities located in the Pearl River Delta region which is the most important endemic area in Guangdong province, but the prevalences were relatively lower in seaside cities. Conclusions The present investigation revealed a high prevalence of C. sinensis infection in its reservoir hosts dogs and cats in China's subtropical Guangdong province, which provides relevant "base-line" data for conducting control strategies and measures against clonorchiasis in this region.

Abstract Background Clonorchis sinensis is a zoonotic parasite causing clonorchiasis-associated human disease such as biliary calculi, cholecystitis, liver cirrhosis, and it is currently classified as carcinogenic to humans for cholangiocarcinoma. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding, regulating small RNA molecules which are essential for the complex life cycles of parasites and are involved in parasitic infections. To identify and characterize miRNAs expressed in adult C. sinensis residing chronically in the biliary tract, we developed an integrative approach combining deep sequencing and bioinformatic predictions with stem-loop real-time PCR analysis. Results Here we report the use of this approach to identify and clone 6 new and 62,512 conserved C. sinensis miRNAs which belonged to 284 families. There was strong bias on families, family members and sequence nucleotides in C. sinensis. Uracil was the dominant nucleotide, particularly at positions 1, 14 and 22, which were located approximately at the beginning, middle and end of conserved miRNAs. There was no significant "seed region" at the first and ninth positions which were commonly found in human, animals and plants. Categorization of conserved miRNAs indicated that miRNAs of C. sinensis were still innovated and concentrated along three branches of the phylogenetic tree leading to bilaterians, insects and coelomates. There were two miRNA strategies in C. sinensis for its parasitic life: keeping a large category of miRNA families of different animals and keeping stringent conserved seed regions with high active innovation in other places of miRNAs mainly in the middle and the end, which were perfect for the parasite to perform its complex life style and for host changes. Conclusions The present study represented the first large scale characterization of C. sinensis miRNAs, which have implications for understanding the complex biology of this zoonotic parasite, as well as miRNA studies of other related species such as Opisthorchis viverrini and Opisthorchis felineus of human and animal health significance.

Abstract Background Studying mitochondrial (mt) genomics has important implications for various fundamental areas, including mt biochemistry, physiology and molecular biology. In addition, mt genome sequences have provided useful markers for investigating population genetic structures, systematics and phylogenetics of organisms. Toxocara canis, Toxocara cati and Toxocara malaysiensis cause significant health problems in animals and humans. Although they are of importance in human and animal health, no information on the mt genomes for any of Toxocara species is available. Results The sizes of the entire mt genome are 14,322 bp for T. canis, 14029 bp for T. cati and 14266 bp for T. malaysiensis, respectively. These circular genomes are amongst the largest reported to date for all secernentean nematodes. Their relatively large sizes relate mainly to an increased length in the AT-rich region. The mt genomes of the three Toxocara species all encode 12 proteins, two ribosomal RNAs and 22 transfer RNA genes, but lack the ATP synthetase subunit 8 gene, which is consistent with all other species of Nematode studied to date, with the exception of Trichinella spiralis. All genes are transcribed in the same direction and have a nucleotide composition high in A and T, but low in G and C. The contents of A+T of the complete genomes are 68.57% for T. canis, 69.95% for T. cati and 68.86% for T. malaysiensis, among which the A+T for T. canis is the lowest among all nematodes studied to date. The AT bias had a significant effect on both the codon usage pattern and amino acid composition of proteins. The mt genome structures for three Toxocara species, including genes and non-coding regions, are in the same order as for Ascaris suum and Anisakis simplex, but differ from Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus and Caenorhabditis elegans only in the location of the AT-rich region, whereas there are substantial differences when compared with Onchocerca volvulus,Dirofiliria immitis and Strongyloides stercoralis. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes revealed that the newly described species T. malaysiensis was more closely related to T. cati than to T. canis, consistent with results of a previous study using sequences of nuclear internal transcribed spacers as genetic markers. Conclusion The present study determined the complete mt genome sequences for three roundworms of human and animal health significance, which provides mtDNA evidence for the validity of T. malaysiensis and also provides a foundation for studying the systematics, population genetics and ecology of these and other nematodes of socio-economic importance.

The whipworm of humans, Trichuris trichiura, is responsible for a neglected tropical disease (NTD) of major importance in tropical and subtropical countries of the world. Whipworms also infect animal hosts, including pigs, dogs and non-human primates, cause clinical disease (trichuriasis) similar to that of humans. Although Trichuris species are usually considered to be host specific, it is not clear whether non-human primates are infected with T. trichiura or other species. In the present study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome as well as the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of Trichuris from the François’ leaf-monkey (langur), and compared them with homologous sequences from human- and pig-derived Trichuris. In addition, sequence comparison of a conserved mt ribosomal gene among multiple individual whipworms revealed substantial nucleotide differences among these three host species but limited sequence variation within each of them. The molecular data indicate that the monkey-derived whipworm is a separate species from that of humans. Future work should focus on detailed population genetic and morphological studies (by electron microscopy) of whipworms from various non-humans primates and humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Toxoplasma gondii can infect all warm-blooded animals including humans. Infection with T. gondii is probably the leading cause of posterior uveitis in humans and the most comment route of transmission is raw and undercooked meat from infected animals. T. gondii calcium-dependent protein kinase 1 (TgCDPK1) plays a critical role in direct parasite motility, host-cell invasion, and egress., Methods: We constructed a DNA vaccine expressing TgCDPK1 inserted into eukaryotic expression vector pVAX I and evaluated the immune protection induced by pVAX-CDPK1 in Kunming mice. Mice immunized with pVAX-CDPK1 intramuscularly and/or with a plasmid encoding IL-15 and IL-21 (pVAX-IL-21-IL-15). The immune responses were analyzed including lymphoproliferative assay, cytokine, antibody measurements, lymphocyte surface markers by flow cytometry and protective efficacy were measured as survival and cysts numbers after challenge 1 to 2 months post vaccination., Results: Immunization with pVAX-CDPK1 or pVAX-IL-21-IL-15 alone developed strong humoral responses and Th1 type cellular immune responses, and the significantly (P < 0.05) increase of both the percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells compared with all the controls (blank control, PBS, and pVAX). Co-injection of pVAX-IL-21-IL-15 significantly increased humoral and cellular immune responses compared to the group of pVAX-CDPK1 or pVAX-IL-21-IL-15. Challenge experiments showed that co-administration of pVAX-IL-21-IL-15 and pVAX-CDPK1 significantly (P < 0.05) increased survival time (19.2 ± 5.1 days) compared with pVAX-CDPK1 (17.3 ± 4.3 days) or pVAX-IL-21-IL-15 (12.0 ± 2.0 days) alone, and pVAX-IL-21-IL-15 + pVAX-CDPK1 significantly reduced the number of brain cysts (72.7%) in contrast to pVAX-ROP13 (45.7%) or pVAX-IL-21-IL-15 alone (43.6%)., Conclusions: TgCDPK1 is identified to be a promising vaccine candidate for inducing a strong humoral and cellular response against T. gondii infection, and thus synergistic of mIL-21 and mIL-15 can induce non-specific immune responses, but also facilitate specific humoral as well as cellular immune responses elicited by DNA vaccine against acute and chronic T. gondii infection in mice.

Little is known about the prevalence of Sarcoptes scabiei infection in pet dogs in China. In the present study, the prevalence of S. scabiei infection in pet dogs in Guangzhou, southern China, was investigated between January and December, 2009. A total of 3,977 pet dogs admitted to animal hospitals were examined for the presence of S. scabiei using a parasitological approach. The average prevalence of S. scabiei infection in pet dogs is 1.18% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85-1.52%). The prevalence of S. scabiei was higher in winter (1.42%; 95% CI: 0.29-2.55%), summer (1.39%; 95% CI: 0.83-1.96%), and autumn (1.1%; 95% CI: 0.53-1.68%) than in spring (0.63%; 95% CI: 0.02-1.25%). Furthermore, the prevalence of S. scabiei was the highest in Pekingese (21.88%; 95% CI: 7.55-36.2%), followed by Papillon (5.26%; 95% CI: 0-11.06%) and Bichon Frise (3.19%; 95% CI: 0-6.75%). The results of the present investigation indicate that S. scabiei infection is prevalent in pet dogs in Guangzhou, China, which provides relevant "baseline" data for conducting control strategies and measures against scabies in this region and elsewhere in China. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive report of S. scabiei prevalence in pet dogs in China.