Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-10-2017
Publication Title
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Abstract
Historically, Ancylostoma ceylanicum has been viewed as an uncommon cause of human hookworm infection, with minimal public health importance. However, recent reports have indicated that this zoonotic hookworm causes a much greater incidence of infection within certain human populations than was previously believed. Current methods for the species-level detection of A. ceylanicum rely on techniques that involve conventional PCR accompanied by restriction enzyme digestions. These PCR-based assays are not only labo- rious but they lack sensitivity as they target suboptimal regions on the DNA. As efforts aimed at the eradication of hookworm disease have grown substantially over the last decade, the need for sensitive and specific tools to monitor and evaluate programmatic successes has correspondingly escalated. Since a growing body of evidence suggests that patient responses to drug treatment can vary based upon the species of hookworm that is causing infection, accurate species-level diagnostics are advantageous. Accordingly, the novel real-time PCR-based assay described here provides a sensitive, species-specific diag- nostic tool that will facilitate the accurate mapping of disease endemicity and will aid in the evaluation of progress of programmatic deworming efforts.
Volume
11
Issue
7
DOI
doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005734
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
© 2017 Papaiakovou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Recommended Citation
Papaiakovou, Marina; Pilotte, Nils; Grant, Jessica R.; Traub, Rebecca J.; Llewellyn, Stacey; McCarthy, James S.; Krolewiecki, Alejandro J.; Cimino, Rubén; Mejia, Rojelio; and Williams, Steven A., "A Novel, Species-Specific, Real-Time PCR Assay for the Detection of the Emerging Zoonotic Parasite Ancylostoma Ceylanicum in Human Stool" (2017). Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/bio_facpubs/29
Comments
Archived as published.