Identification of fish-borne trematode DNA in cyprinoid fish using molecular detection

摘要

Human liver and minute intestinal flukes are highly prevalent in Southeast Asia. In cases of mixed infections found in a single cyprinoid fish, the metacercariae are necessary in order to identify the morphology. This requires the fish to be digested, which is a process comprising of many steps while taking an entire day to finish. It also necessitates experienced laboratory technicians to identify them under a microscope. As a result, this study attempted to use PCR assays targeting the ITS2 regions to identify and differentiate among species. The length of the PCR amplicons of Opisthorchis viverrini Centrocestus sp and Haplorchis taichui were 380 bp and 530 bp, respectively, for ITS2. Moreover, using the ITS2 primers for preliminary analysis, we were able to detect at least 0.5 metacercariae in 40 mg of fish. This suggests that molecular detection of fish-borne trematode DNA in fish may be useful in identifying fish for quarantine.