Although some infections occur with a consistently higher prevalence in less industrialized areas, Blastocystis sometimes breaks that rule. Researchers comparing Blastocystis infection in pig farmers in Southeast Queensland Australia to Cambodia report an infection rate of 83.3% in SEQ, vs. 55.2% in Cambodian villagers. Pigs in SEQ were more likely to be infected with Blastocystis, with 76.7% of the Austrian pigs infected vs. 45.2% of Cambodian pigs. Even more interesting, although both groups of pigs were infected predominantly with Blastocystis sp. subtype 5, that subtype was not found in Cambodians, but was found in the Austrians, suggesting that transmission from pigs to humans occurs in SEQ but not Cambodia. The study was published in Veterinary Parasitology.
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Jul 2015