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Insights on foodborne zoonotic trematodes in freshwater snails in North and Central Vietnam

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Abstract

Foodborne zoonotic trematode (FZT) infections are common neglected tropical diseases in Southeast Asia. Their complicated life cycles involve freshwater snails as intermediate hosts. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Yen Bai and Thanh Hoa provinces in North and Central Vietnam, to investigate the diversity of cercariae of potential FZT and to construct the phylogenetic relationship of trematode cercariae based on the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) region. Among 17 snail species collected from various habitats, 13 were infected by 10 cercarial groups among which parapleurolophocercous, pleurolophocercous, and echinostome cercariae were of zoonotic importance. The monophyletic tree separated cercarial sequences into different groups following the description of the cercariae families in which Haplorchidae, Opisthorchiidae, Echinochasmidae, and Echinostomatidae are important families of FZT. The overall prevalence was different among snail species and habitats and showed a seasonal trend. Parapleurolophocercous and echinostome cercariae emerged as the most common cercariae in snails in Yen Bai, while monostome, echinostome, and megalura cercariae were most common in Thanh Hoa. Using a molecular approach, we identified Parafossarulus striatulus as the first intermediate snail host of Clonorchis sinensis in Thac Ba Lake. Melanoides tuberculata and Bithynia fuchsiana were we identified preferred intermediate snail hosts of a diverse range of trematode species including intestinal flukes (i.e., Haplorchis pumilio and Echinochasmus japonicus) in Yen Bai and Thanh Hoa, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Dr. Frédéric Farnir, MSc, Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, MSc, and Huynh Chi Cuong (University of Liège, Belgium) for statistical analysis advice. We also wish to thank Mr. Hoang Tuan Anh for graphical design.

Funding

The study was mainly supported by the international project “Foodborne Zoonotic Trematode infections and integrated control in Vietnam” (FOODTINC) and the Académie de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur (ARES-CCD), Belgium, and partly by the national project for molecular work under grant number 106.05-2017.26 funded by the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED).

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Nguyen, P.T.X., Van Hoang, H., Dinh, H.T.K. et al. Insights on foodborne zoonotic trematodes in freshwater snails in North and Central Vietnam. Parasitol Res 120, 949–962 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-07027-1

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