Background. Food-borne parasites are major sources of human and animal illness, posing severe health risks in places with contaminated soil, poor water quality, cleanliness, and poor sanitation. The usage of untreated organic fertilizers arising from the excreta of the parasites’ definitive hosts either man or animal pollutes the agricultural soil and is reflected in its products of vegetables and green fodders causing serious health problems. Therefore, to the best of our knowledge, this will be the first study that investigated the combination of parasitic contamination of the agricultural soil and its products of raw eaten vegetables and green fodder in East Nile Delta, Egypt. Aim. The purpose of this study was to investigate the type and degree of contamination caused by parasites in regularly used raw vegetables, green fodder, and soil samples collected from open fields in Egypt’s East Nile Delta. Study Procedures. A cross-sectional study comprised a simple random collection of 400 soil samples, 180 green fodder samples, and as well as 400 vegetable samples, including lettuce, radish, coriander, parsley, dill, watercress, tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, and carrot, that were gathered throughout one year period from January to December 2021 to represent all seasons (winter, spring, summer, and autumn). The research locations were chosen from various open green fields and farming regions in Egypt’s East Nile Delta producing ready-to-eat vegetables for human consumptions and planting green fodder for animal feeding. Concentrations, including sedimentation, and flotation, and staining techniques were used to recover the greatest number of parasitic life forms. The parasitic structures discovered were identified using biometric and imaging data and compared with known parasite morphology. Statistical analysis was performed with the SPSS software version 22 (IBM, Chicago, IL, USA). Data were presented in numbers and percentages. P -values equal to or less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. The difference in parasitic contamination among the different categories was compared using the chi-square test. Results. In this investigation, 243 out of 400 soil samples (60.7%) confirmed positive for parasitic contamination ( P < 0.05 ). Various parasitic life forms were significantly found in 249 out of 400 (62.25%) of the vegetable samples, with (65.1%) of them harboring one parasite species, whereas 9.2% significantly contained up to three parasites. Ascaris eggs, Trichuris eggs, and Giardia cysts were the most prevalent parasites, which were predominantly isolated from vegetables with uneven surfaces. 109 of 180 (60.0%) green fodder samples confirmed insignificantly positive for parasitic pollution. The proportion of parasite contamination in vegetable samples was insignificant although the highest was in spring (29.3%), followed by summer (27.7%), whereas it is significant in autumn (24.5%). The prevalence rate was the lowest in winter (20.1%). Conclusion and Recommendations. Our findings demonstrated a significant load of parasites notably the soil-transmitted parasitic infection in raw vegetables and green fodder cultivated in open fields as well as in their mother soil in the east of the Nile Delta, Egypt. These results confirm the urgent need to deploy strict control measures to the soil, especially during the pre-harvest period of raw eaten vegetables and green fodder, a critical step in reducing food-borne transmission of soil-transmitted parasites to man and animals.
Objective: In dynamic renal scans, 99m Tc-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) is copiously used and it yields information about the renal blood-flow and the excretory capacity. 99m Tc-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) is used for static renal imaging and can likewise uncover the renal cortical structure. This work was intended to evaluate whether DMSA can be declared as a radiopharmaceutical in dynamic renal scans or not. It also aimed at comparing the outcomes procured from DMSA and with DTPA examinations. Materials and Methods: A comparison of the information gained from the renograms of 47 subjects (normal subjects and subjects with abnormal renal function having: obstructive nephropathy, bilateral nephropathy, hydronephrosis, reduced or non-function kidney, and/or atrophic kidney) who had 99m Tc-DMSA and 99m Tc-DTPA dynamic scintigraphies utilizing the same protocol. Results: A strong positive correlation had come in view on the evaluation of the left kidney, right kidney, and total glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from 99m Tc-DTPA and 99m Tc-DMSA renograms. In addition, the estimation of the time of the peak height from 99m Tc-DTPA and 99m Tc-DMSA renograms for the right and left kidneys demonstrated as non-significant varieties and a strong positive correlation for both the normal subjects and subjects with kidney abnormalities. Conclusion: In the light of the outcomes gained from the present investigation, it could be prescribed that 99m Tc-DMSA can favorably replace 99m Tc-DTPA in dynamic renograms in the case of the renal conditions that had been examined in the present work. As scheduled, this will be cost-effective and time saving and will decrease the radiation dose administered to the subjects. Also, the same qualities of results are accomplished with both radiopharmaceuticals in normal subjects and subjects with abnormal renal function.
Purpose Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite infecting most mammalian hosts and causing major health issues. The present study investigated the efficacy of ginger (Zingiber officinale), garlic (Allium sativum), and pomegranate (Punica granatum) peel extracts on the development and progression of experimental cryptosporidiosis in mice. Methods Eighty-two mice were assigned to 6 groups: control, infected non-treated, metronidazole (MTZ), ginger, garlic, and pomegranate. The control group topically received no treatments. The infected non-treated group was experimentally infected by 104C. parvum oocysts per mouse using a stomach tube. The MTZ group was infected with C. parvum oocysts combined with MTZ (50 mg/kg b.w./day). The ginger, garlic, and pomegranate groups daily received different plant extracts at doses of 100 mg/kg BW, 50 mg/kg BW, and 3 gm/kg BW, respectively, followed by infection with C. parvum oocysts. All treatments were applied orally one day after the infection for continuous 30 days. Results Histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations for P53 and caspase-3 expressions in stomach and spleen tissues showed that MTZ and garlic-treated mice had a more significant effect on infected mice. Conclusion The garlic extract was found to exert a more pronounced effect on infected mice compared with the other treatments as well as to improve health. Garlic extracts, therefore, represent an effective and natural therapeutic alternative for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis with low side effects and without drug resistance.
In the current study, the hydatid cyst-induced tissue lesions in liver and lung of camels and sheep infected with Egyptian strain of E. granulosus was evaluated and the fine structures of the protoscolices by scanning electron microscope (SEM) was described. The results indicated that both fertile and sterile hydatid cysts could lead to various degree of tissue lesions visualized mainly as necrosis, inflammatory cell infiltration and tissue degeneration other histopathological changes occurred in lung and liver of infected animals due to infection with hydatid cyst. Tissue lesion associated with hydatidosis was described. SEM showed envaginated, invaginated protoscolex and the broad capsule of hydatid cyst. There were two types of hooks, large (upper row) and small (lower row) in hydatid cyst protoscolices; with microtriches on different regions.
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