Isolation and characterization of a naturally occurring multidrug-resistant strain of the canine hookworm, Ancylostoma caninum.

Isolation and characterization of a naturally occurring multidrug-resistant strain of the canine hookworm, Ancylostoma caninum. Int J Parasitol. 2019 Feb 13;: Authors: Kitchen S, Ratnappan R, Han S, Leasure C, Grill E, Iqbal Z, Granger O, O'Halloran DM, Hawdon JM Abstract Soil-transmitted nematodes (STNs) infect over a billion people and place several billion more at risk of infection. Hookworm disease is the most significant of these STNs, with over 500 million people infected. Hookworm infection can result in debilitating and sometimes fatal iron-deficiency anemia, which is particularly devastating in children and pregnant women. Currently, hookworms and other soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are controlled by administration of a single dose of a benzimidazole to targeted populations in endemic areas. While effective, people are quickly re-infected, necessitating frequent treatment. Widespread exposure to anthelmintic drugs can place significant selective pressure on parasitic nematodes to generate resistance, which has severely compromised benzimidazole anthelmintics for control of livestock nematodes in many areas of the world. Here we report, to our knowledge, the first naturally occurring multidrug-resistant strain of the canine hookworm Ancylostoma caninum. We reveal that this isolate is resistant to fenbendazole at the clinical dosage of 50 mg/kg for 3 days. Our data shows that this strain harbors a fixed, single base pair m...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Authors: Tags: Int J Parasitol Source Type: research