TY - JOUR
T1 - Carriage of Blastocystis spp. in travellers - A prospective longitudinal study
AU - van Hattem, Jarne M.
AU - Arcilla, Maris S.
AU - Schultsz, Constance
AU - Bootsma, Martin C.
AU - Verhaar, Nienke
AU - Rebers, Sjoerd P.
AU - Goorhuis, Abraham
AU - Grobusch, Martin P.
AU - Penders, John
AU - de Jong, Menno D.
AU - van Gool, Tom
AU - Bart, Aldert
AU - van Genderen, Perry J.
AU - Melles, Damian C.
AU - Molhoek, Nicky
AU - Oude Lashof, Astrid M.
AU - Stobberingh, Ellen E.
AU - Verbrugh, Henri A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Bob de Wever and Richard Molenkamp from the Department of Medical Microbiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands for their advice on molecular techniques. The COMBAT study was funded by Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, grant number 205200003 ). The funder had no role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - Introduction: A lack of prospective and longitudinal data on pre- and post-travel carriage of Blastocystis spp. complicates interpretation of a positive test post-travel. Therefore we studied dynamics of Blastocystis carriage in a cohort of Dutch travellers. Methods: From the prospective, multicentre COMBAT study among 2001 Dutch travellers, a subset of 491 travellers was selected based on travel destination to 7 subregions (70 or 71 travellers each). Faecal samples taken directly before and after travel were screened for Blastocystis with qPCR, followed, when positive, by sequence analysis to determine subtypes. Results: After exclusion of 12 samples with missing samples or inhibited qPCR-reactions, stool samples of 479 travellers were analysed. Before travel, 174 of them (36.3%) carried Blastocystis and in most of these, the same subtype was persistently carried. However, in 48/174 of those travellers (27.6%; CI95 20.8–36.6%) no Blastocystis or a different subtype was detected in the post-travel sample, indicating loss of Blastocystis during travel. Only 26 (5.4%; CI95 3.7%–8.0%) of all travellers acquired Blastocystis, including two individuals that were already positive for Blastocystis before travel but acquired a different subtype during travel. Discussion: This study shows that Blastocystis carriage in travellers is highly dynamic. The observed acquisition and loss of Blastocystis could either be travel-related or reflect the natural course of Blastocystis carriage. We demonstrate that the majority of Blastocystis detected in post-travel samples were already carried before travel.
AB - Introduction: A lack of prospective and longitudinal data on pre- and post-travel carriage of Blastocystis spp. complicates interpretation of a positive test post-travel. Therefore we studied dynamics of Blastocystis carriage in a cohort of Dutch travellers. Methods: From the prospective, multicentre COMBAT study among 2001 Dutch travellers, a subset of 491 travellers was selected based on travel destination to 7 subregions (70 or 71 travellers each). Faecal samples taken directly before and after travel were screened for Blastocystis with qPCR, followed, when positive, by sequence analysis to determine subtypes. Results: After exclusion of 12 samples with missing samples or inhibited qPCR-reactions, stool samples of 479 travellers were analysed. Before travel, 174 of them (36.3%) carried Blastocystis and in most of these, the same subtype was persistently carried. However, in 48/174 of those travellers (27.6%; CI95 20.8–36.6%) no Blastocystis or a different subtype was detected in the post-travel sample, indicating loss of Blastocystis during travel. Only 26 (5.4%; CI95 3.7%–8.0%) of all travellers acquired Blastocystis, including two individuals that were already positive for Blastocystis before travel but acquired a different subtype during travel. Discussion: This study shows that Blastocystis carriage in travellers is highly dynamic. The observed acquisition and loss of Blastocystis could either be travel-related or reflect the natural course of Blastocystis carriage. We demonstrate that the majority of Blastocystis detected in post-travel samples were already carried before travel.
KW - Acquisition
KW - Blastocystis
KW - Carriage
KW - Dynamics
KW - Loss
KW - Travel
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85049317503
U2 - 10.1016/j.tmaid.2018.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.tmaid.2018.06.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 29929001
AN - SCOPUS:85049317503
SN - 1477-8939
VL - 27
SP - 87
EP - 91
JO - Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
JF - Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
ER -