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Discovery And Description Of The "Davtiani" Morphotype For Teladorsagia Boreoarcticus (Trichostrongyloidea: Ostertagiinae) Abomasal Parasites In Muskoxen, Ovibos Moschatus, And Caribou, Rangifer Tarandus, From The North American Arctic: Implications For Parasite Faunal Diversity, Eric P. Hoberg, Arthur Abrams, Patricia A. Pilitt, Susan J. Kutz

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Collections to explore helminth diversity among free-ranging ungulates in the North American Arctic revealed the occurrence of a third male, or "davtiani," morphotype for Teladorsagia boreoarcticus. Designated as T. boreoarcticus forma (f.) minor B, the males occurred with T. boreoarcticus f. major and T. borearcticus f. minor A in endemic populations of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus wardi) and barrenground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) on Victoria Island, Nunavut, Canada, and in muskoxen and Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. These specimens differ from conspecific morphotypes in the structure …

Discovery And Description Of A New Trichostrongyloid Species (Nematoda: Ostertagiinaw), Abomasal Parasites In Mountain Goat, Oreamnos Americanus, From The Western Cordillera Of North America [With Erratum], Eric P. Hoberg, Arthur Abrams, Patricia A. Pilitt, Emily J. Jenkins

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Marshallagia lichtenfelsi sp. n. is a dimorphic ostertagiine nematode occurring in the abomasum of mountain goats, Oreamnos americanus, from the Western Cordillera of North America. Major and minor morphotype males and females are characterized and distinguished relative to the morphologically similar Marshallagia marshalli/Marshallagia occidentalis from North America and Marshallagia dentispicularis, along with other congeners, from the Palearctic region. The configuration of the convoluted and irregular synlophe in the cervical region of males and females of M. lichtenfelsi is apparently unique, contrasting with a continuous and parallel system of ridges among those species of Marshallagia, including …

Synthesizing Parasitology With Archaeology In Paleopathology, Karl Reinhard, Adauto Araujo

Karl Reinhard Publications

Parasitology is the study of organisms that are symbiotic with other organisms. In this form of symbiosis, the parasite species by definition benefits from the interaction while the host is harmed to some degree. In actuality, some parasites benefit their hosts. The animals traditionally studied by parasitologists range from protozoa to arthropods, and include all types of internal and external worms. Ticks, fleas, lice, and a variety of insects that transmit parasites are also studied by parasitologists. Recently, a more holistic view of parasitism appeared, including bacteria and viruses. In essence, parasitology is the study of a certain kind of …

In Vitro Propagation Of Candidatus Rickettsia Andeanae Isolated From Amblyomma Maculatum, Alison Luce-Fedrow, Chelsea Wright, Holly D. Gaff, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Wayne L. Hynes, Allen L. Richards

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Candidatus Rickettsia andeanae was identified during an investigation of a febrile outbreak in northwestern Peru (2002). DNA sequencing from two ticks (Amblyomma maculatum, Ixodes boliviensis) collected during the investigation revealed a novel Rickettsia agent with similarity to the spotted fever group rickettsiae. Since then, Candidatus R. similar to andeanae has been detected in A. maculatum ticks collected in the southeastern and southcentral United States, Argentina, and Peru. To date, Candidatus R. andeanae has not been successfully cultivated in the laboratory. We present evidence for the continuous cultivation in three cell lines of Candidatus R. similar to …

Four Events Of Host Switching In Aspidoderidae (Nematoda) Involve Convergent Lineages Of Mammals, F. Agustín Jiménez-Ruiz, Scott Lyell Gardner, Graciela Navone, Guillermo Ortí

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

The Great American Interchange resulted in the mixing of faunistic groups with different origins and evolutionary trajectories that underwent rapid diversification in North and South America. As a result, groups of animals of recent arrival converged into similar habits and formed ecological guilds with some of the endemics. We present a reconstruction of the evolutionary events in Aspidoderidae, a family of nematodes that infect mammals that are part of this interchange, i.e., dasypodids, opossums, and sigmodontine, geomyid, and hystricognath rodents. By treating hosts as discrete states of character and using parsimony and Bayesian inferences to optimize these traits into the …

Efficacies Of Fenbendazole And Albendazole In The Treatment Of Commercial Turkeys Artificially Infected With Ascaridia Dissimilis, Jessica Perkins, Tom Yazwinski, Chris Tucker

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The goal of this research was to determine the extent of resistance that turkey roundworms, Ascaridia dissimilis, have developed to anti-parasitic chemicals used in commercial poultry operations. Roundworm infections in turkeys have resulted in monetary losses for the poultry industry for years, generally due to poor feed conversion. The infection itself is subclinical and many turkeys have a light to moderate worm burden. Since parasitisms are light, this leads to the infections being noticed only during processing. Ascaridia dissimilis infections consist of adult worms and developing larvae with the latter comprising most of the worm burden and causing the most …

Cloning Of The Gene, Purification As Recombinant Protein And Functional Characterization Of Leishmania Mexicana Cytochrome B5 Reductase, Ala Azhari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leishmania are protozoan parasites that are transmitted by a sand fly vector. These parasites affect not only humans but also wild animals including domestic dogs and rodents, which form an additional challenge and public health problem to control the disease. Leishmaniasis is an important disease with worldwide distribution, including Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and other tropical and subtropical areas around the world. Due to the expansion of irrigation and agricultural activities, more exposure to sand fly occurs, which leads to the expansion of leishmaniasis infections as newly emerging disease.

Emerging drug resistance in leishmaniasis is an additional problem, contributed …

Influence Of Detritus Levels And Organic Pollution On Interspecific Resource Competition, Oviposition Behavior, And Larval Survival Of Two Tire-Inhabiting Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae), David Wayne Allgood

Master's Theses

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are vectors of disease in the adult stage, but understanding the factors affecting distributions of the immature stages is important to the understanding and control of adult populations. Discarded automobile tires comprise important larval mosquito habitats. The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and the southern house mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus) are two medically important species commonly found in tires, but factors affecting their larval distributions in tires have not been studied, nor have their interspecific interactions. I investigated the effects of chemicals associated with organic pollution on oviposition preferences and larval survival of both …

Hiv-1 Tat Protein Promotes Neuronal Dysfunction Through Disruption Of Micrornas, J Robert Chang, Ruma Mukerjee, Asen Bagashev, Luis Del Valle, Tinatin Chabrashvili, Brian J. Hawkins, Johnny J. He, Bassel E. Sawaya

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Over the last decade, small noncoding RNA molecules such as microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as critical regulators in the expression and function of eukaryotic genomes. It has been suggested that viral infections and neurological disease outcome may also be shaped by the influence of small RNAs. This has prompted us to suggest that HIV infection alters the endogenous miRNA expression patterns, thereby contributing to neuronal deregulation and AIDS dementia. Therefore, using primary cultures and neuronal cell lines, we examined the impact of a viral protein (HIV-1 Tat) on the expression of miRNAs due to its characteristic features such as release …

Timing The Origin Of Human Malarias: The Lemur Puzzle, M. Andreína Pacheco, Fabia U. Battistuzzi, Randall E. Junge, Omar E. Cornejo, Cathy V. Williams, Irene Landau, Lydia Rabetafika, Georges Snounou, Lisa Jones-Engel, Ananias A. Escalante

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Background: Timing the origin of human malarias has been a focus of great interest. Previous studies on the mitochondrial genome concluded that Plasmodium in primates, including those parasitic to humans, radiated relatively recently during a process where host switches were common. Those investigations, however, assumed constant rate of evolution and tightly bound (fixed) calibration points based on host fossils or host distribution. We investigate the effect of such assumptions using different molecular dating methods. We include parasites from Lemuroidea since their distribution provides an external validation to time estimates allowing us to disregard scenarios that cannot explain their introduction …

Transgenic C. Elegans Dauer Larvae Expressing Hookworm Phospho Null Daf-16/Foxo Exit Dauer, Verena Gelmedin, Thomas Brodigan, Xin Gao, Michael Krause, Zhu Wang, John M. Hawdon

Research Center for Neglected Diseases of Poverty

Parasitic hookworms and the free-living model nematode Caenorhabtidis elegans share a developmental arrested stage, called the dauer stage in C. elegans and the infective third-stage larva (L3) in hookworms. One of the key transcription factors that regulate entrance to and exit from developmental arrest is the forkhead transcription factor DAF-16/FoxO. During the dauer stage, DAF-16 is activated and localized in the nucleus. DAF-16 is negatively regulated by phosphorylation by the upstream kinase AKT, which causes DAF-16 to localize out of the nucleus and the worm to exit from dauer. DAF-16 is conserved in hookworms, and hypothesized to control recovery from …

The Fecal Viral Flora Of Wild Rodents, Tung G. Phan, Beatrix Kapusinszky, Chunlin Wang, Robert K. Rose, Howard L. Lipton, Eric L. Delwart

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The frequent interactions of rodents with humans make them a common source of zoonotic infections. To obtain an initial unbiased measure of the viral diversity in the enteric tract of wild rodents we sequenced partially purified, randomly amplified viral RNA and DNA in the feces of 105 wild rodents (mouse, vole, and rat) collected in California and Virginia. We identified in decreasing frequency sequences related to the mammalian viruses families Circoviridae, Picobirnaviridae, Picornaviridae, Astroviridae, Parvoviridae, Papillomaviridae, Adenoviridae, and Coronaviridae. Seventeen small circular DNA genomes containing one or two replicase genes distantly related to the Circoviridae representing several potentially …

Helminths Of Small Mammals (Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Chiroptera, Rodentia, And Lagomorpha) Of Mongolia, David S. Tinnin, Sumiya Ganzorig, Scott Lyell Gardner

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Ninety-eight species of small mammal, excluding carnivores and ungulates, are currently recognized in the fauna of Mongolia. A list of species of helminths known to infect these species, both within Mongolia and across their range, is presented in an effort to aid in their study. A detailed bibliography of pertinent survey and related publications is provided.

The publication is the result of the Mongolian Vertebrate Parasite Project, made possible by NSF grants DEB-0717214, DBI-0646356, DBI-9631295, and DBI-9411976.

Rerooting The Evolutionary Tree Of Malaria Parasites, Diana C. Outlaw, Robert E. Ricklefs

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.) have plagued humans for millennia. Less well known are related parasites (Haemosporida), with diverse life cycles and dipteran vectors that infect other vertebrates. Understanding the evolution of parasite life histories, including switches between hosts and vectors, depends on knowledge of evolutionary relationships among parasite lineages. In particular, inferences concerning time of origin and trait evolution require correct placement of the root of the evolutionary tree. Phylogenetic reconstructions of the diversification of malaria parasites from DNA sequences have suffered from uncertainty concerning outgroup taxa, limited taxon sampling, and selection on genes used to assess relationships. As …

Emerging Dynamics Of Human Campylobacteriosis In Southern Ireland, Susan Bullman, Daniel Corcoran, James O'Leary, Derry O'Hare, Brigid Lucey, Roy D. Sleator

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Infections with Campylobacter spp. pose a significant health burden worldwide. The significance of Campylobacter jejuni/Campylobacter coli infection is well appreciated but the contribution of non-C. jejuni/C. coli spp. to human gastroenteritis is largely unknown. In this study, we employed a two-tiered molecular study on 7194 patient faecal samples received by the Microbiology Department in Cork University Hospital during 2009. The first step, using EntericBio® (Serosep), a multiplex PCR system, detected Campylobacter to the genus level. The second step, utilizing Campylobacter species-specific PCR identified to the species level. A total of 340 samples were confirmed as Campylobacter genus positive, 329 of …

Characterization Of The Serologic Responses To Plasmodium Vivax Dbpii Variants Among Inhabitants Of Pursat Province, Cambodia, Samantha Jones Barnes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein (DBP) is the ligand in the major pathway for P. vivax invasion of human reticulocytes, making it an appealing vaccine candidate. Region II of DBP (DBP-RII) is the minimal portion of the ligand that mediates recognition of the Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC receptor) on the reticulocyte surface and constitutes the primary vaccine target. Analysis of natural variation in the coding sequences of DBP-RII revealed signature evidence for selective pressure driving variation in the residues of the putative receptor-binding site. We hypothesize that anti-DBP immunity in P. vivax infections is strain-specific and hindered …

Prevalence Of Myxobolus Cerebralis Infections Among Genetic Lineages Of Tubifex Tubifex At Three Locations In The Madison River, Montana, Nilanjan Lodh, Lori Stevens, Billie Kerans

Clinical Lab Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Host biodiversity can impact disease risk and influence the transmission of parasitic disease. Stream sediment–dwelling worms, Tubifex tubifex (Clitellata: Oligochaeta), are the definitive host of the parasite Myxobolus cerebralis (Myxozoa: Myxosporea), which causes whirling disease in salmonid fishes. Genetic diversity of T. tubifex is correlated with host susceptibility to M. cerebralis, and mitochondrial Lineage III is generally shown to be more likely to be infected and produce the triactinomyxon (TAM) spores than other lineages. We determined the mitochondrial lineage, relative abundance, and prevalence of infection of T. tubifex collected at 3 sites in the Madison River, Montana, where previous …

Archaeoparasitology Of Chaco Canyon, Rachel Paseka

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Ancient cultures of the Colorado Plateau have been a focus of archaeoparasitology since its inception, and a vast parasitological history is recorded in coprolites preserved in this arid region. The inhabitants of Chaco Canyon dominated Ancestral Puebloan culture between 1050 and 1120 AD and were responsible for the construction of great towns, road systems, and early agriculture. Analysis of the parasites preserved in fecal remains contributes to an increased knowledge of ancient Chacoan health and culture. Nineteen coprolites from four sites in Chaco Canyon were rehydrated and analyzed microscopically for parasite remains. Rhabditiform and filariform nematode larvae were found from …

Heartworm In Canines: Trends In Rhode Island Shelter Populations, Kelsey L. Mckenna

Senior Honors Projects

Heartworm in Canines

Kelsey McKenna

Faculty Sponsor: Darlene Jones, DVM, Animal Science

Each year thousands of dogs in the United States become infected with heartworm, which is caused by Dirofilaria immitis. D. immitis is a parasite that is transmitted to dogs via a bite by an infected mosquito. Nine of the seventy competent mosquito species reside in Rhode Island. The true incidence of D. immitis is unknown. Current incidence maps are derived from data generated at veterinary clinics and do not include shelter dogs. The objective of this study is twofold: to determine the prevalence of D. immitis in …

Host And Distribution Lists Of Chiggers (Trombiculidae And Leeuwenhoekiidae), Of North American Wild Vertebrates North Of Mexico, Brianne L. Walters, John O. Whitaker Jr., Nicholas S. Gikas, William J. Wrenn

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Information concerning chiggers found on wild vertebrates of North America north of Mexico is summarized. Included are lists a) of the chiggers organized taxonomically, b) hosts from which each species has been reported, and c) states and provinces with references for each separate record

Rickettsia Parkeri In Gulf Coast Ticks, Southeastern Virginia, Usa, Chelsea L. Wright, Robyn M. Nadolny, Ju Jiang, Allen L. Richards, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Holly D. Gaff, Wayne L. Hynes

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We report evidence that Amblyomma maculatum tick populations are well established in southeastern Virginia. We found that 43.1% of the adult Gulf Coast ticks collected in the summer of 2010 carried Rickettsia parkeri, suggesting that persons living in or visiting southeastern Virginia are at risk for infection with this pathogen.

Validation Of Methionine Aminopeptidase-1 As A Potential Chemotherapeutic Target For Leishmania Major, Elizabeth Calzada^, Carylinda Serna, Miguel A. Vasquez, Omonike Olaleye, Rosa Maldonado*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

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Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by Leishmania major affecting millions of people throughout the world. It is an emerging concern in the United States due to military establishments in endemic countries. Treatment for the disease is highly toxic and the lack of vaccines emphasizes on the need for alternative drug treatments. Aminopeptidase inhibitors have shown promising results against malaria and tuberculosis. Methionine aminopeptadse-1 (MetAP1) catalyzes the removal of the N-terminal methionine residue from peptides and proteins. The human MetAP1 …

Isolation By Distance Explains Genetic Structure Of Buggy Creek Virus, A Bird-Associated Arbovirus, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Many of the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) show extensive genetic variability and are widely distributed over large geographic areas. Understanding how virus genetic structure varies in space may yield insight into how these pathogens are adapted to and dispersed by different hosts or vectors, the relative importance of mutation, drift, or selection in generating genetic variability, and where and when epidemics or epizootics are most likely to occur. However, because most arboviruses tend to be sampled opportunistically and often cannot be isolated in large numbers at a given locale, surprisingly little is known about their spatial genetic structure on the local …

Nematode Parasites Of Costa Rican Snakes (Serpentes) With Description Of A New Species Of Abbreviata (Physalopteridae), Charles R. Bursey, Daniel R. Brooks

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Seventy-eight snakes collected in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica were necropsied: Boidae (1 species), boa constrictor, Boa constrictor; Colubridae (21 species), Ecuador sipo, Chironius grandisquamis; road guarder, Conophis lineatus; South American forest racer, Dendrophidion percarinatus; speckled racer, Drymobius margaritiferus; mimic false coral snake, Erythrolamprus mimus; blunthead tree snake, Imantodes cenchoa; western tree snake, Imantodes inornatus; banded cat-eyed snake, Leptodeira annulata; striped lowland snake, Leptodrymus pulcherrimus; Cope’s parrot snake, Leptophis depressirostris; yellow-bellied racer, Liophis epinephelus; neotropical whip snake, Masticophis mentovarius; brown vinesnake, Oxybelis aeneus; …

American Society Of Parasitologists Newsletter, V. 33, Nos. 1 & 2, 2011, Scott Lyell Gardner

American Society of Parasitologists: Newsletter

An issue of the American Society of Parasitologists Newsletter, also known as the Newsletter of the Journal of Parasitology.

Mathematical Model To Assess The Relative Effectiveness Of Rift Valley Fever Countermeasures, Holly Gaff, Colleen Burgess, Jacqueline Jackson, Tianchan Niu, Yiannis Papelis, David Hartley

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Mathematical modeling of infectious diseases is increasingly used to explicate the mechanics of disease propagation, impact of controls, and sensitivity of countermeasures. The authors demonstrate use of a Rift Valley Fever (RVF) model to study efficacy of countermeasures to disease transmission parameters. RVF is a viral infectious disease that propagates through infected mosquitoes and primarily affects animals but also humans. Vaccines exist to protect against the disease but there is lack of data comparing efficacy of vaccination with alternative countermeasures such as managing mosquito population or destroying infected livestock. This paper presents a compartmentalized multispecies deterministic ordinary differential equation model …

Some Laelapine Mites (Acari: Laelapidae) Ectoparasitic On Small Mammals In The Galapagos Islands, Including A New Species Of Gigantolaelaps From Aegialomys Galapagoensis, Donald D. Gettinger, Fernanda Martins-Hatano, Scott Lyell Gardner

Scott L. Gardner Publications

A collection of laelapine mites from small mammals in the Galapagos Islands are identified and their host distributions reviewed. Two species of native rodents, Aegialomys galapagoensis and Nesoryzomys narboroughii, were infested only with species typical of Neotropical oryzomyine rodents; Rattus rattus was infested with Laelaps nuttalli, a host-specific ectoparasite to Old World Rattus. A synopsis of Gigantolaelaps Fonseca is provided and we describe a new laelapine mite, Gigantolaelaps aegialomys n. sp., from the pelage of the rodent A. galapagoensis on Santa Fe Island. The new species has strong morphological affinities with a subgroup of Gigantolaelaps associated …

Mammalia, Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae, Monodelphis Kunsi Pine, 1975: Distribution Extension And First Record For Eastern Amazonia, Donald Gettinger, Thiago Carvalho Modesto, Helena De Godoy Bergallo, Fernanda Martins-Hatano

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

We review the distributional records of Monodelphis kunsi, which occurs from eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina into central Brazil. We report specimens of M. kunsi collected in the Carajás National Forest in eastern Pará, Brazil (06°03’00” S, 50°15’00” W), extending the known species range 430 km northward, into the eastern edge of Amazonia. This is the first record for the state of Pará, and the first certain record for the Amazon Region. Two adult males and one subadult female were deposited in the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro.

Erection Of Ibirhynchus Gen. Nov. (Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae), Based On Molecular And Morphological Data, Martin Garcia-Varela, Gerardo Pérez-Ponce De León, Francisco J. Aznar, Steven A. Nadler

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

The genus Southwellina is composed of 3 described species, i.e., S. hispida (the type species), S. dimorpha, and S. macracanthus. All 3 are endoparasites of fish-eating birds that have worldwide distributions. Morphologically, the genus is characterized by possessing a short and compact trunk, 2 fields of spines in the anterior region of the trunk (in at least 1 sex), a short cylindrical proboscis (sometimes with a swollen region armed with numerous longitudinal rows of hooks), a double-walled proboscis receptacle, and 4 tubular cement glands in males. In the current study, specimens identified as S. dimorpha were collected from …

Helminths Of Squirrels (Sciuridae) From Mongolia, David S. Tinnin, Sumiya Ganzorig, Scott Lyell Gardner

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Two species of ground squirrels, Urocitellus undulatus and Spermophilus alashanicus, were collected and examined for parasites from two localities in Mongolia in 1999. A total of 24 individuals of U. undulatus were examined resulting in a total of six taxa of helminths found, including: Ascaris tarbagan, Physaloptera massino, Streptopharagus kutassi, Anoplocephaloides transversaria, Hymenolepis suslica, and Moniliformis sp. This represents four new species records and an additional host record for the country. Two individuals of S. alashanicus were examined and found to be uninfected.