Abstract
Blastocystis sp. is a common enteric parasite of humans and animals associated with inadequate sanitation and poor personal hygiene. Over the years, the Malaysian thriving economy has been facilitated largely by migrant workers from developing countries, and there is concern that diseases endemic to their countries may be imported. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the current status of Blastocystis infection as well as subtypes (STs) from fecal samples among migrant workers in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Overall, almost a third of the study cohort (30.9%; n = 68/220) screened were infected with Blastocystis sp. predominantly with ST3 (54.5%; n = 12), followed by ST1 (36.4%; n = 8) and ST2 (9.1%; n = 2). Infection levels was almost similar among the different sectors; manufacturing (32.8%), domestic service (32.3%), and food service (27.3%) with common symptoms for infection included stomach and abdominal pain or discomfort and diarrhea (48.5%; n = 33). None of the socio-demographic risk factors evaluated were significant. Therefore, this study warrants continuous monitoring as well as understanding the impact of transmission among the migrant community with the local population especially those involved in food service sector.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Agholi M, Hatam GR, Motazedian MH (2013) HIV/AIDS-associated opportunistic protozoal diarrhea. AIDS Res Hum Retrovir 29(1):35–41
Alfellani MA, Stensvold CR, Vidal-Lapiedra A, Onuoha ESU, Fagbenro-Beyioku AF, Clark CG (2013) Variable geographic distribution of Blastocystis subtypes and its potential implications. Acta Trop 126:11–18
Daniel W (1999) Biostatistics: a foundation for analysis in the health sciences, 7th edn. R Wiley, New York
El Safadi D, Meloni D, Poirier P, Osman M, Cian A, Gaayeb L, Wawrzyniak I, Delbac F, El Alaoui H, Delhaes L, Dei-Cas E, Mallat H, Dabboussi F, Hamze M, Viscogliosi E (2013) Molecular epidemiology of Blastocystis in Lebanon and correlation between subtype 1 and gastrointestinal symptoms. Am J Trop Med Hyg 88(6):1203–1206
El-Badry AA, El Wahab WMA, Hamdy DA, Aboud A (2018) Blastocystis subtypes isolated from irritable bowel syndrome patients and co-infection with Helicobacter pylori. Parasitol Res 117(1):127–137
Haresh K, Suresh K, Anuar AK, Saminathan S (1999) Isolate resistance of Blastocystis hominis to metronidazole. Tropical Med Int Health 4(4):274–277
Ithoi I, Azman J, Mak JW, Wan Yusuff WS, Rohela M (2011) Occurrence of Blastocystis in water of two rivers from recreational areas in Malaysia. J Parasitol Res 2011:1–8
Kumarasamy V, Kuppusamy UR, Samudi C, Kumar S (2013) Blastocystis sp. subtype 3 triggers higher proliferation of human colorectal cancer cells, HCT116. Parasitol Res 112(10):3551–3555
Kumarasamy K, Kuppusamy UR, Pailoor J, Chandramathi S, Ragavan ND, Suresh KG (2017) Exacerbation of colon carcinogenesis by Blastocystis sp. PLoS One 12(8):e0183097
Ministry of Human Resources (2019) Labour Department Peninsular Malaysia Statistics PLKS by citizens and sector In: Statistics of Employment and Labour Malaysia pp 24 ± 25
Nieves-Ramírez ME, Partida-Rodríguez O, Laforest-Lapointe I, Reynolds LA, Brown EM, Valdez-Salazar A, Jin M (2018) Asymptomatic intestinal colonization with protist Blastocystis is strongly associated with distinct microbiome ecological patterns. mSystems 3(3):e00007–e00018
Rajah S, Suresh K, Vennila GD, Khairul Anuar A, Saminathan R (2002) Small forms of Blastocystis hominis. JUMMEC 7(1):77–79
Rajamanikam A, Govind SK (2013) Amoebic forms of Blastocystis spp.-evidence for a pathogenic role. Parasites Vectors 6(1):295
Rajamanikam A, Hoo HS, Kudva M, Samudi C, Kumar S (2019) Resistance towards metronidazole in Blastocystis sp.: A pathogenic consequence. PloS One 14(2):e0212542
Roberts T, Stark D, Harkness J, Ellis J (2014) Update on the pathogenic potential and treatment options for Blastocystis sp. Gut Pathog 6(1):17
Sahimin N, Lim YAL, Ariffin F, Behnke JM, Lewis JW, Mohd Zain SN (2016) Migrant workers in Malaysia: current implications of sociodemographic and environmental characteristics in the transmission of intestinal parasitic infections. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 10(11):e0005110
Stensvold CR, Suresh GK, Tan KS, Thompson RC, Traub RJ, Viscogliosi E, Yoshikawa H, Clark CG (2007) Terminology for Blastocystis subtypes – a consensus. Trends Parasitol 23(3):93–96
Suresh K, Rajah S, Khairul Anuar A, Anuar Zaini MZ, Saminathan R, Ramakrishnan S (2002) Faecal pathogens in foreign workers. JUMMEC 7(1):11
Suresh K, Smith H (2004) Comparison of methods for detecting Blastocystis hominis. Eur J Clin Microbiol 23:509–511
Tan TC, Suresh KG, Smith HV (2008) Phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of Blastocystis hominis isolates implicates subtype 3 as a subtype with pathogenic potential. Parasitol Res 104(1):85–93
Vargas-Sanchez GB, Romero-Valdovinos M, Ramirez-Guerrero C, Vargas-Hernandez I, Ramirez-Miranda ME, Martinez-Ocaña J, Villalobos G (2015) Blastocystis isolates from patients with irritable bowel syndrome and from asymptomatic carriers exhibit similar parasitological loads, but significantly different generation times and genetic variability across multiple subtypes. PloS One 10(4):e0124006
Yason JA, Liang YR, Png CW, Zhang Y, Tan KSW (2019) Interactions between a pathogenic Blastocystis subtype and gut microbiota: in vitro and in vivo studies. Microbiome 7(1):30
Yoshikawa H, Wu Z, Nagano I, Takahashi Y (2003) Molecular comparative studies among Blastocystis isolates obtained from humans and animals. J Parasitol 89:585–594
Acknowledgments
The authors are very grateful to the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and all collaborators from companies and agencies in Malaysia for their support to this study. Special thanks also go to all the volunteers and medical staff and nurses from the University Malaya Medical Centre and Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) for their technical assistance.
Funding
This research work was funded by the University of Malaya, PPP grant PG040-2014A and Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) from Ministry of Education, FP015-2014B.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical clearance was obtained from the Ethics Committee, University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) prior to commencement of the study (Reference number: MECID NO: 20143-40).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Section Editor: Yaoyu Feng
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sahimin, N., Meor Termizi, F.H., Rajamanikam, A. et al. Prevalence and subtypes of Blastocystis among migrant workers from different working sectors in Peninsular Malaysia. Parasitol Res 119, 3555–3558 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06865-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06865-3