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Whipworms in humans and pigs: origins and demography.

Hawash, MB; Betson, M; Al-Jubury, A; Ketzis, J; LeeWillingham, A; Bertelsen, MF; Cooper, PJ; Littlewood, DT; Zhu, XQ; Nejsum, P (2016) Whipworms in humans and pigs: origins and demography. Parasites & Vectors, 9 (1). pp. 37-47. ISSN 1756-3305 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-016-1325-8
SGUL Authors: Cooper, Philip John

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Trichuris suis and T. trichiura are two different whipworm species that infect pigs and humans, respectively. T. suis is found in pigs worldwide while T. trichiura is responsible for nearly 460 million infections in people, mainly in areas of poor sanitation in tropical and subtropical areas. The evolutionary relationship and the historical factors responsible for this worldwide distribution are poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to reconstruct the demographic history of Trichuris in humans and pigs, the evolutionary origin of Trichuris in these hosts and factors responsible for parasite dispersal globally. METHODS: Parts of the mitochondrial nad1 and rrnL genes were sequenced followed by population genetic and phylogenetic analyses. Populations of Trichuris examined were recovered from humans (n = 31), pigs (n = 58) and non-human primates (n = 49) in different countries on different continents, namely Denmark, USA, Uganda, Ecuador, China and St. Kitts (Caribbean). Additional sequences available from GenBank were incorporated into the analyses. RESULTS: We found no differentiation between human-derived Trichuris in Uganda and the majority of the Trichuris samples from non-human primates suggesting a common African origin of the parasite, which then was transmitted to Asia and further to South America. On the other hand, there was no differentiation between pig-derived Trichuris from Europe and the New World suggesting dispersal relates to human activities by transporting pigs and their parasites through colonisation and trade. Evidence for recent pig transport from China to Ecuador and from Europe to Uganda was also observed from their parasites. In contrast, there was high genetic differentiation between the pig Trichuris in Denmark and China in concordance with the host genetics. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence for an African origin of T. trichiura which were then transmitted with human ancestors to Asia and further to South America. A host shift to pigs may have occurred in Asia from where T. suis seems to have been transmitted globally by a combination of natural host dispersal and anthropogenic factors.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2016 Hawash et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Keywords: Whipworms, Trichuris, Humans, Pigs, Demographic history, Evolution, Mycology & Parasitology, 1108 Medical Microbiology, 1117 Public Health And Health Services
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Infection and Immunity Research Institute (INII)
Journal or Publication Title: Parasites & Vectors
ISSN: 1756-3305
Language: eng
Dates:
DateEvent
22 January 2016Published
Publisher License: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Projects:
Project IDFunderFunder ID
088862/Z/09/Z.Wellcome Trusthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100004440
SS 09 – 066344Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001825
PubMed ID: 26800683
Web of Science ID: WOS:000368487400002
Go to PubMed abstract
URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/107663
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-016-1325-8

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