Onchocerca takaokai n. sp. (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Japanese wild boars (Sus scrofa leucomystax): Description and molecular identification of intradermal females. Issue 6 (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Uni, Shigehiko; Fukuda, Masako; Agatsuma, Takeshi; Bain, Odile; Otsuka, Yasushi; Nakatani, Jun; Matsubayashi, Makoto; Harada, Masashi; Omar, Hasmahzaiti; Ramli, Rosli; Hashim, Rosli; Azirun, Mohd Sofian; Takaoka, Hiroyuki
• Is Part Of: Parasitology international. Volume 64:Issue 6(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 493
• Page End: 502
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Parasitology -- Periodicals; Parasites -- Periodicals; Parasitic Diseases -- Periodicals; Parasitology -- Periodicals; Parasitologie -- Périodiques; 571.99905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.parint.2015.07.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1383-5769

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="author" id="ab0005"> <title id="st0005">Abstract</title> <sec> <p id="sp0005">Human zoonotic onchocercosis is caused by <italic>Onchocerca dewittei japonica</italic>, parasitic in wild boars (<italic>Sus scrofa leucomystax</italic>) in Japan. Previously, microfilariae longer than those of <italic>Onchocerca dewittei japonica</italic> were observed in skin snips from wild boars during the study of <italic>O. dewittei japonica</italic>. Moreover, the third-stage larvae (L<sub>3</sub>) of these longer microfilariae were obtained from the blackfly <italic>Simulium bidentatum</italic> after experimental injections. Based on morphometric and molecular studies, similar L<sub>3</sub> were found in blackflies during fieldwork in Oita, Japan. However, except for <italic>O. dewittei japonica</italic>, adult worms of <italic>Onchocerca</italic> have not been found in wild boars. In this study, we discovered adult females of a novel <italic>Onchocerca</italic> species in the skin of a wild boar in Oita, and named it <italic>Onchocerca takaokai</italic> n. sp. Females of this new species had longer microfilariae and differed from <italic>O. dewittei japonica</italic> in terms of their morphological characteristics and parasitic location. The molecular characteristics of the cytochrome <italic>c</italic> oxidase subunit 1 and 12S rRNA genes of the new species were identical to those of the longer microfilariae and L<sub>3</sub> previously detected, but they differed from those of <italic>O. dewittei japonica</italic> at the species level. However, both species indicated a close affinity among their congeners and <italic>Onchocerca ramachandrini</italic>, parasitic in the warthog in Africa, was basal in the Suidae cluster of the 12S rRNA tree.</p> </sec> </abstract>