Use of qPCR-Based Cercariometry to Assess Swimmer’s Itch in Recreational Lakes

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Swimmer’s itch (cercarial dermatitis) is a nuisance encountered by bathers and recreational water users worldwide. The condition is caused by the penetration of larval digenean trematodes (cercariae) of the family Schistosomatidae, into the skin, following their release into freshwater from pulmonate snails that serve as the intermediate hosts for these parasites. This study utilizes qPCR-based cercariometry to monitor and quantify cercariae from water samples collected at 5 lakes in northern Michigan. The resolution provided by qPCR facilitated assessment of the environmental and biological drivers of swimmer’s itch-causing cercariae concentrations, allowing us to demonstrate that cercarial abundance is greatest at the top of the water column, in locations with prevailing on- and alongshore winds.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s10393-018-1362-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Related collections

Most cited references 46

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Is Open Access

Diverse Applications of Environmental DNA Methods in Parasitology.

David Bass, Grant D. Stentiford, D. Littlewood … (2015)

Nucleic acid extraction and sequencing of genes from organisms within environmental samples encompasses a variety of techniques collectively referred to as environmental DNA or 'eDNA'. The key advantages of eDNA analysis include the detection of cryptic or otherwise elusive organisms, large-scale sampling with fewer biases than specimen-based methods, and generation of data for molecular systematics. These are particularly relevant for parasitology because parasites can be difficult to locate and are morphologically intractable and genetically divergent. However, parasites have rarely been the focus of eDNA studies. Focusing on eukaryote parasites, we review the increasing diversity of the 'eDNA toolbox'. Combining eDNA methods with complementary tools offers much potential to understand parasite communities, disease risk, and parasite roles in broader ecosystem processes such as food web structuring and community assembly.

0 comments Cited 73 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Development and application of an eDNA method to detect and quantify a pathogenic parasite in aquatic ecosystems.

P Johnson, J Koprivnikar, J Huver … (2015)

Approaches based on organismal DNA found in the environment (eDNA) have become increasingly utilized for ecological studies and biodiversity inventories as an alternative to traditional field survey methods. Such DNA-based techniques have largely been used to establish the presence of free-living organisms, but have much potential for detecting and quantifying infectious agents in the environment, which is necessary to evaluate disease risk. We developed an eDNA method to examine the distribution and abundance of the trematode Ribeiroia ondatrae, a pathogenic parasite known to cause malformations in North American amphibians. In addition to comparing this eDNA approach to classical host necropsy, we examined the detectability of R. ondatrae in water samples subject to different degradation conditions (time and temperature). Our test exhibited high specificity and sensitivity to R. ondatrae, capable of detecting as little as 14 fg (femtograms) of this parasite's DNA (1/2500th of a single infectious stage) from field water samples. Compared to our results from amphibian host necropsy, quantitative PCR was -90% concordant with respect to R. ondatrae detection from 15 field sites and was also a significant predictor of host infection abundance. DNA was still detectable in lab samples after 21 days at 25°C, indicating that our method is robust to field conditions. By comparing the advantages and disadvantages of eDNA vs. traditional survey methods for determining pathogen presence and abundance in the field, we found that the lower cost and effort associated with eDNA approaches provide many advantages. The development of alternative tools is critical for disease ecology, as wildlife management and conservation efforts require reliable establishment and monitoring of pathogens.

0 comments Cited 45 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Intra-Genomic Variation in the Ribosomal Repeats of Nematodes

Holly M. Bik, David Fournier, Way Sung … (2013)

Ribosomal loci represent a major tool for investigating environmental diversity and community structure via high-throughput marker gene studies of eukaryotes (e.g. 18S rRNA). Since the estimation of species’ abundance is a major goal of environmental studies (by counting numbers of sequences), understanding the patterns of rRNA copy number across species will be critical for informing such high-throughput approaches. Such knowledge is critical, given that ribosomal RNA genes exist within multi-copy repeated arrays in a genome. Here we measured the repeat copy number for six nematode species by mapping the sequences from whole genome shotgun libraries against reference sequences for their rRNA repeat. This revealed a 6-fold variation in repeat copy number amongst taxa investigated, with levels of intragenomic variation ranging from 56 to 323 copies of the rRNA array. By applying the same approach to four C. elegans mutation accumulation lines propagated by repeated bottlenecking for an average of ~400 generations, we find on average a 2-fold increase in repeat copy number (rate of increase in rRNA estimated at 0.0285-0.3414 copies per generation), suggesting that rRNA repeat copy number is subject to selection. Within each Caenorhabditis species, the majority of intragenomic variation found across the rRNA repeat was observed within gene regions (18S, 28S, 5.8S), suggesting that such intragenomic variation is not a product of selection for rRNA coding function. We find that the dramatic variation in repeat copy number among these six nematode genomes would limit the use of rRNA in estimates of organismal abundance. In addition, the unique pattern of variation within a single genome was uncorrelated with patterns of divergence between species, reflecting a strong signature of natural selection for rRNA function. A better understanding of the factors that control or affect copy number in these arrays, as well as their rates and patterns of evolution, will be critical for informing estimates of global biodiversity.

0 comments Cited 44 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Patrick C. Hanington: 780-492-5210 , pch1@ualberta.ca

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Ecohealth

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Ecohealth

Title: Ecohealth

Publisher: Springer US (New York )

ISSN (Print): 1612-9202

ISSN (Electronic): 1612-9210

Publication date (Electronic): 17 August 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 17 August 2018

Publication date (Print): 2018

Volume: 15

Issue: 4

Pages: 827-839

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.17089.37, School of Public Health, , University of Alberta, ; Room 3-57, South Academic Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G7 Canada

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2222 680X, GRID grid.257108.9, Office of Campus Ministries, Hope College, ; Holland, MI USA

[3 ]Saint Joseph High School, Saint Joseph, MI USA

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0004 4667 895X, GRID grid.453910.a, Jackson College, ; Jackson, MI USA

[5 ]University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, MI USA

Article

Publisher ID: 1362

DOI: 10.1007/s10393-018-1362-1

PMC ID: 6267424

PubMed ID: 30120669

SO-VID: 8e6bf1e0-91e5-4c85-a66d-df8a7b6bfeef

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

History

Date received : 24 August 2017

Date revision received : 6 July 2018

Date accepted : 28 July 2018

Funding

Funded by: FundRef 10.13039/501100000038, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada;

Award ID: 418540

Funded by: Alberta Innovates - Energy and Environment Solutions

Award ID: 2078

Award ID: 2332

Funded by: Michigan Swimmer's Itch Partnership

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health

Keywords: swimmer’s itch,qpcr,recreational water,exposure,cercariometry,avian schistosomes,edna

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health

Keywords: swimmer’s itch, qpcr, recreational water, exposure, cercariometry, avian schistosomes, edna

Use of qPCR-Based Cercariometry to Assess Swimmer’s Itch in Recreational Lakes

Read this article at

Abstract

Electronic supplementary material

Related collections

Chinese Journal of Radiological Health

Most cited references 46

Diverse Applications of Environmental DNA Methods in Parasitology.

Development and application of an eDNA method to detect and quantify a pathogenic parasite in aquatic ecosystems.

Intra-Genomic Variation in the Ribosomal Repeats of Nematodes

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 434

Cited by 10

Most referenced authors 330