4^th International Conference on Parasitology September 01-02, 2017 Prague, Czech Republic

Nongyao Sawangjaroen has her expertise in medical protozoalogy. Her researches include several studies on Thai medicinal plant against intestinal protozoa. The seroprevalence and molecular genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii in Thailand are also extensively investigated.

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite infected humans and animals worldwide. Revealed from many studies indicated that causes of Toxoplasma infections were mainly due to direct contact with cats or eating foods contaminated with infectious oocysts shedding from cat feces. Each genotype of Toxoplasma, which classified into three dominant lineages (type I, II and III), caused different virulence in mice. Genotyping of T. gondii strains both in humans and animals has never been reported from Thailand. Therefore, this study aims to determine the genotype of T. gondii isolated from domestic cats in Southern Thailand. A total of 334 cat feces were screened for coccidian oocysts by microscopic examination and PCR assays targeted the 529 bp repeat element and internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS-1) regions were used to identify T. gondii. PCR-RFLP of five locus of T. gondii was performed to classify the genotypic characteristics. Under light microscopy, 18% (60/334) of coccidian oocysts were found. PCR analysis revealed 0.6% (2/334) and 5.1% (17/334) of cat feces positive by Tox and ITS-1 primers, respectively. The BLAST results of 16 ITS-1 sequences were identified as T. gondii (3.6%; 12/344) and H. hammondi (1.2%; 4/334). The PCR-RFLP patterns of SAG1, SAG2-new, SAG3, BTUB and GRA6 markers were able to amplify 8/13 (61.5%) of T. gondii isolates and resulted in five diverse genotypes: the type I (one isolate), type III (two isolates), type II or type III (one isolate), recombinant genotypes (two isolates) and atypical genotypes (two isolates). The presence of unusual genotypes may lead to new virulent traits associated with more severe forms of human Toxoplasma infections. This is the first report of genotypic characteristics of T. gondii isolated from naturally infected animals in Thailand. These findings still need more evaluation before conclude whether the oocysts from Thai domestic cat play an importance role in severity of toxoplasmosis.

Sena Bayissa Disassa has completed her BSc in Applied Biology from Ambo University and also completed MSc in Medical Parasitology from Black Lion College of Health Science, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. She has worked as Lecturer and Researcher in Mekelle University since 2012. She has published one paper in reputed journals and has been serving as an IRB (Institutional Review Board) Member of Biomedical Department in Mekelle University, Ethiopia.

Background: Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Ethiopia malaria transmission is generally unstable caused by P. falciparium and P. vivax. Early diagnosis and treatment is the best way to manage malaria transmission. Even though different diagnostic methods are available, still microscopy is a gold standard but in place where microscopy is not accessible and affordable, RDT is the only choose for easy diagnostic application which helps in accurate use of antimalarial drugs. In Ethiopia over the last five years (2001–2005) the proportion of malaria in outpatient department, admission and in-patient deaths has been increasing with the highest being recorded in 2003 and 2004 while a slight reduction was observed in 2005. In 2005, malaria was still the first leading cause of health problem. Objective & Method: A cross sectional study was conducted to evaluate the performance of SD FK80 kit for malaria (P. falciparum / P. vavix) diagnosis and the retrospective study was conducted to assess the trends of malaria transmission in Adama District from November to December, 2011 at Adama Malaria Center, Southeastern Oromia. 384 blood samples were collected and analyzed with microscopy and RDT (SD Bioline P. falciparum / P. vivax) for the detection and identification of Plasmodium parasites. Result: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of the SD Bioline were 90.7%, 96%, 91.7%, and 96.4%, respectively taking microscopy as a gold standard. Prevalence of malaria cases were 12.9% (6156 /47, 848) reported in the seven year period considered by this study. Conclusion: SD Bioline FK80 P. falciparum / P. vivax were performed satisfactorily for the diagnosis of P. falciparum and P. vivax infections. The case P. vivax was more dominant than P. falciparum in the area. Generally the trends of malaria from 2007 was increasing and become peak in 2011. Key word: Malaria, RDT( SD Bioline FK80), Adama malaria center.