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Onchocerca flexuosa. sp. (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Japanese Wild Sika Deer (Cervus nippon): Pathological and molecular identification

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Abstract

Subcutaneous nodular onchocercosis was detected and investigated in 17 Japanese Sika deer (Cervus nippon), captured in Gifu and Shiga Prefectures/Japan, in the period between 2016 and 2017. The worms were found in all the seventeen deer within characteristics subcutaneous nodules dispersed mainly in the back (especially in the lumbar region and flanks), with few scattered nodules were located at the forelimbs and neck. The all collected nodules were examined stereo-microscopically. The parasites were extracted from the nodules and identified through morphological and histopathological examinations. Molecular identification through sequencing of the following genes; internal transcribed spacer subunit 2 (ITS2)–28S ribosomal RNA (28S rRNA), cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) and mitochondrially encoded NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (NAD2) were performed. The histopathological, molecular and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that, the filarial nematode isolated from Gifu and Shiga Prefectures in Japan is O. flexuosa. This is the first report about presence of O. flexuosa in Japanese Sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Gifu and Shiga Prefectures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, El-Beheira, Egypt

    Hoda A. Abd-Ellatieff & Abdel-Rahman A. AbouRawash

  2. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin al-Kom, Menoufia, 32511, Egypt

    Eman. K. Bazh

  3. Animal Health Research Institute, Alex. Regional Lab. Alexandria, Giza, Egypt

    Shahinaz M. Hussin

  4. Institute of Animal Health in Shiga Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan

    Ituto Yamamoto

  5. Laboratory of Wildlife and Forensic Pathology, Okayama University of Science, 1-3, Ikoinooka, Ehime, Okayama, 794-0085, Japan

    Tokuma Yanai

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  1. Hoda A. Abd-Ellatieff
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  2. Eman. K. Bazh
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  3. Shahinaz M. Hussin
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  4. Ituto Yamamoto
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  5. Tokuma Yanai
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  6. Abdel-Rahman A. AbouRawash
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Correspondence to Abdel-Rahman A. AbouRawash.

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Abd-Ellatieff, H.A., Bazh, E.K., Hussin, S.M. et al. Onchocerca flexuosa. sp. (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Japanese Wild Sika Deer (Cervus nippon): Pathological and molecular identification. J Parasit Dis 46, 354–365 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-021-01453-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-021-01453-3

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