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Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms: Non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Schneider-Crease, I; Griffin, RH; Gomery, MA; Dorny, P; Noh, JC; Handali, S; Chastain, HM; Wilkins, PP; Nunn, CL; Snyder-Mackler, N ...
Published in: PLoS neglected tropical diseases
July 2017

Despite the global distribution and public health consequences of Taenia tapeworms, the life cycles of taeniids infecting wildlife hosts remain largely undescribed. The larval stage of Taenia serialis commonly parasitizes rodents and lagomorphs, but has been reported in a wide range of hosts that includes geladas (Theropithecus gelada), primates endemic to Ethiopia. Geladas exhibit protuberant larval cysts indicative of advanced T. serialis infection that are associated with high mortality. However, non-protuberant larvae can develop in deep tissue or the abdominal cavity, leading to underestimates of prevalence based solely on observable cysts. We adapted a non-invasive monoclonal antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect circulating Taenia spp. antigen in dried gelada urine. Analysis revealed that this assay was highly accurate in detecting Taenia antigen, with 98.4% specificity, 98.5% sensitivity, and an area under the curve of 0.99. We used this assay to investigate the prevalence of T. serialis infection in a wild gelada population, finding that infection is substantially more widespread than the occurrence of visible T. serialis cysts (16.4% tested positive at least once, while only 6% of the same population exhibited cysts). We examined whether age or sex predicted T. serialis infection as indicated by external cysts and antigen presence. Contrary to the female-bias observed in many Taenia-host systems, we found no significant sex bias in either cyst presence or antigen presence. Age, on the other hand, predicted cyst presence (older individuals were more likely to show cysts) but not antigen presence. We interpret this finding to indicate that T. serialis may infect individuals early in life but only result in visible disease later in life. This is the first application of an antigen ELISA to the study of larval Taenia infection in wildlife, opening the doors to the identification and description of infection dynamics in reservoir populations.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

PLoS neglected tropical diseases

DOI

EISSN

1935-2735

ISSN

1935-2727

Publication Date

July 2017

Volume

11

Issue

7

Start / End Page

e0005709

Related Subject Headings

  • Urine
  • Tropical Medicine
  • Theropithecus
  • Taeniasis
  • Taenia
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • ROC Curve
  • Primate Diseases
  • Prevalence
  • Male
 

Citation

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ICMJE
MLA
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Schneider-Crease, I., Griffin, R. H., Gomery, M. A., Dorny, P., Noh, J. C., Handali, S., … Bergman, T. J. (2017). Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms: Non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 11(7), e0005709. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005709
Schneider-Crease, India, Randi H. Griffin, Megan A. Gomery, Pierre Dorny, John C. Noh, Sukwan Handali, Holly M. Chastain, et al. “Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms: Non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population.PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 11, no. 7 (July 2017): e0005709. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005709.
Schneider-Crease I, Griffin RH, Gomery MA, Dorny P, Noh JC, Handali S, et al. Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms: Non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population. PLoS neglected tropical diseases. 2017 Jul;11(7):e0005709.
Schneider-Crease, India, et al. “Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms: Non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population.PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 11, no. 7, July 2017, p. e0005709. Epmc, doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005709.
Schneider-Crease I, Griffin RH, Gomery MA, Dorny P, Noh JC, Handali S, Chastain HM, Wilkins PP, Nunn CL, Snyder-Mackler N, Beehner JC, Bergman TJ. Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms: Non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population. PLoS neglected tropical diseases. 2017 Jul;11(7):e0005709.

Published In

PLoS neglected tropical diseases

DOI

EISSN

1935-2735

ISSN

1935-2727

Publication Date

July 2017

Volume

11

Issue

7

Start / End Page

e0005709

Related Subject Headings

  • Urine
  • Tropical Medicine
  • Theropithecus
  • Taeniasis
  • Taenia
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • ROC Curve
  • Primate Diseases
  • Prevalence
  • Male