Safaa  Mohamed Barghash, Ahmed  Mohamed Darwish, 
    Epidemiology and Genetic Variants within <i>Echinococcus granulosus</i>
Identified based on ITS-1 Ribosomal DNA in North-West Egypt,
    Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances,
    Volume 18,Issue 6,
    2019,
    Pages 187-194,
    ISSN 1680-5593,
    javaa.2019.187.194,
    (https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=javaa.2019.187.194)
    Abstract: <i>E. granulosus</i>, the etiologic agent of Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most important
zoonotic helminths with worldwide distribution in humans and animals. The current study aimed to survey the
population genetic pattern of CE isolated from humans and slaughtered animals in North-West Egypt by
sequencing of ITS-1 ribosomal DNA. A total of 4987 animals (1512 camels, 1575 cattle, 192 donkeys, 867
sheep, 703 goats, 98 buffaloes) and 100 suspected cases in humans were surveyed, for their fertility and
viability. It was collected from different abattoirs and hospitals in North-West Egypt and identified by using
nested-PCR-ITS1 of rDNA. The isolates amplify 800 bp were sequenced and BLASTn. Nucleic acid sequence
maximum likelihood method was used to create the consequence tree and subsequent phylogeny to compare
these sequences with globally and retrieved reference strains of <i>E. granulosus</i> from GenBank. Results revealed
that 155 hydatid cysts were found fertile and viable and consequently subjected to nPCR-ITS1 of rDNA.
Molecularly, they identified as 99 (63.9%) were G6 strain whereas 56 (36.1%) were as G1 strain. The similarity
between submitted isolates and preserved from the same species deposited in GenBank ranged from
98.3-96.9%. It was more similar to Australian and Indian sheep than Iranian isolates. We concluded that the
sheep G1 and camel G6 genotypes of <i>E. granulosus</i> are prevalent with the possibility of transmission between
livestock animals and humans are likely to be exposed to G1 strain in North-West Egypt.
    Keywords: nPCR-ITS1;G6;G1;Echinococcus granulosus;Gene sequencing;Phylogenetic tree;Egypt