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Detection of parasite DNA in soil samples from rural Yucatan, Mexico

Villanueva-Lizama, L.; Cruz-Coral, A.; Teh-Poot, C.; Mejia, R.

2023-06-28 infectious diseases
10.1101/2023.06.27.23291958 medRxiv
Show abstract

The soil is the primary environmental reservoir for many parasites transmitted to humans through the fecal-oral route, causing disease. Our environmental study used a high-throughput multi-parallel real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay to detect parasites DNA in soil collected from the outdoor built environments of 34 houses. The total parasite prevalence was Acanthamoeba spp. (53%), Blastocystis spp. (12%), Ascaris lumbricoides (12%), Toxocara canis (9%), Ancylostoma spp. (3%), Trichuris trichiura (3%), Entamoeba histolytica (3%) and Giardia intestinalis (3%). No DNA from Necator americanus, Strongyloides stercoralis, Toxocara catis, and Cryptosporidium spp was detected. A total of 65% of houses were positive for at least one parasite, 15% had poly-parasites, and up to six different parasites were detected in a single sample. This is the first report of parasites-DNA detected in soil samples from a rural community in Yucatan and suggests higher rates of transmission of parasites with both a zoonotic and medical importance.

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