| Autor: |
Hedtke SM; Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia., Kode A; Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia., Ukety TO; Centre de Recherche en Maladies Tropicales (CRMT), Bunia P.O. Box 143, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Mande JL; Centre de Recherche en Maladies Tropicales (CRMT), Bunia P.O. Box 143, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Abhafule GM; Centre de Recherche en Maladies Tropicales (CRMT), Bunia P.O. Box 143, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Raciu AA; Centre de Recherche en Maladies Tropicales (CRMT), Bunia P.O. Box 143, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Uvon CB; Centre de Recherche en Maladies Tropicales (CRMT), Bunia P.O. Box 143, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Jada SR; Amref South Sudan, Juba P.O. Box 30125, South Sudan., Hotterbeekx A; Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium., Siewe Fodjo JN; Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium., Mitreva M; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis and McDonnell Genome Institute, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA., Sebit W; National Public Health Laboratory, Juba P.O. Box 88, South Sudan., Colebunders R; Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium., Grant WN; Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia., Kuesel AC; UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/World Health Organization Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), World Health Organization, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland. |
| Abstrakt: |
WHO and endemic countries target elimination of transmission of Onchocerca volvulus , the parasite causing onchocerciasis. Population genetic analysis of O. volvulus may provide data to improve the evidence base for decisions on when, where, and for how long to deploy which interventions and post-intervention surveillance to achieve elimination. Development of necessary methods and tools requires parasites suitable for genetic analysis. Based on our experience with microfilariae obtained from different collaborators, we developed a microfilariae transfer procedure for large-scale studies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) comparing safety and efficacy of ivermectin, the mainstay of current onchocerciasis elimination strategies, and moxidectin, a new drug. This procedure is designed to increase the percentage of microfilariae in skin snips suitable for genetic analysis, improve assignment to metadata, and minimize time and materials needed by the researchers collecting the microfilariae. Among 664 microfilariae from South Sudan, 35.7% and 39.5% failed the mitochondrial and nuclear qPCR assay. Among the 576 microfilariae from DRC, 16.0% and 16.7% failed these assays, respectively. This difference may not only be related to the microfilariae transfer procedure but also to other factors, notably the ethanol concentration in the tubes in which microfilariae were stored (64% vs. ≥75%). |
