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Evaluation of the MGL method to detect Paragonimus eggs and its improvement

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Abstract

Dog feces containing 500 Paragonimus westermani eggs per gram were examined by the Medical General Laboratory (MGL), the simple sedimentation (SS), and the Army Medical School III (AMS III) methods. The number of eggs per gram of feces (EPG) obtained by the MGL method was 17.2 and was significantly lower than those obtained by the SS method (324.0) and the AMS III method (505.6). When isolated P. westermani eggs were processed by the MGL method and four layers (ether, ether-fecal, formalin layers, and sediment) of the final centrifugation product were separately examined, almost 100 % of eggs were found at the ether-fecal layer. Similarly, when fecal samples containing P. westermani, Paragonimus skrjabini miyazakii, Paragonimus ohirai, or Paragonimus harinasutai eggs were processed by the MGL method, more than 95 % of the eggs were found in the supernatant layers. The formalin-ethyl acetate (FEA) method showed a similar tendency as the MGL method and over 90 % of eggs remained in the supernatant layers. Contrary to Paragonimus eggs, 63 and 96 % of Clonorchis and Metagonimus eggs were found in the sediment in the MGL method, respectively. When surfactant (Tween 80) was added to fecal solution, most of Paragonimus eggs spun down in the sediment in the MGL and FEA methods, suggesting that Paragonimus eggs have hydrophobic components on their surface. It is suggested that surfactant addition to the fecal solution should be considered when the MGL method is used for detection of Paragonimus eggs.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to give our sincere thanks to Drs. Takeshi Nakamura and Daigo Tsubokawa in the Department of Parasitology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, for providing Clonorchis and Metagonimus egg samples. We are grateful to the staff of the Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitic Diseases, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, for their valuable support. We also thank Mr. Yoshio Iwata (a boar hunter) for providing samples of his dog.

Financial support

Part of this work was supported by the Integrated Research Project for Human and Veterinary Medicine in the University of Miyazaki funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan, and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, JSPS (KAKENHI: Grant Number 21580377).

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Correspondence to Nariaki Nonaka.

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Irie, T., Yamaguchi, Y., Sumen, A. et al. Evaluation of the MGL method to detect Paragonimus eggs and its improvement. Parasitol Res 114, 4051–4058 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4632-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4632-7

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