A new record of Paragonimus other than P. westermani in southern Thailand.

Abstract

Field surveys of Paragonimus in Surat Thani Province, southern Thailand, revealed a new record of a lung fluke species other than P. westermani. The metacercariae were obtained from the crab, Ranguna smalleyi. The cysts of the metacercariae were spherical in shape and the larval body in the cysts contained pinkish granules. Fully mature adult worms were obtained from experimental infections with a rat and a ferret. The adult worms from the two host animals resembled each other, except for size, and had the anatomical characteristics of P. bangkokensis, ie the cuticular spines were arranged mainly in groups, the ovaries were highly branched, while the testes were more simply divided. Chromosomal preparations of the testes showed a haploid number of 11. As no sequence data of P. bangkokensis has been deposited in the GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ nucleotide database, the ITS2 region was sequenced using the metacercariae as starting material. A similarity search of P. bangkokensis ITS2 sequence using the BLAST program revealed that there was only one base difference between this population and P. harinasutai occurring in central Thailand. The result may suggest a close relationship between P. bangkokensis and P. harinasutai. This is the first description of Paragonimus species other than P. westermani occurring in southern Thailand.