Infection with parasitic nematodes in Australian marine fish

Shokoofeh Shamsi, Andreas Lopata

Marine Biomedical Sciences and Health Research GroupRMIT University, Australia

Definitive hosts

Intermediate hostsIntermediate/paratenic hosts

Anisakids larvae on gonads of fish Anisakidosis of intestine (55 year old man)

Infection with Anisakis in dolphin Infection with Contracaecum in Australian pelican

?Which species can cause disease in human?

Why do people infected with the same parasite in different countries, show different symptoms?

Posterior end in C. microcephalum

SpiculesPost clocal papillae

Posterior end of a Contracaecum

type larva

Posterior end of a female

Contracaecum

Ribosomal DNA

Aims:

(1) the infection rates

(2) parasite species

(3) allergens

DNA analyses

........Digestion Minicolumn PCR

SequencingAgarose gel

ITS-1 ITS-2

Fish species No Infection rate

No of parasite

Geographic location

Eastern Australian Salmon 2 100% 2-10 SA

King George whiting 7 100% 2-15 SA

Red snapper 5 100% 20-75 SA

Sand flathead 10 20% 1-2 VIC

Snapper 5 100% 25-93 SA

Southern garfish 4 100% 3-7 SA

Swallowtail 5 100% 5-27 SA

Tiger flathead 25 100% 40-2000 VIC

Tommy rough 9 84% 3-12 SA

Western Australian salmon 24 73% 2-10 SA

Yellow eye mullet 5 100% 1-31 SA

Yellow fin tuna 1 100% 10 NSW

AnisakisAnisakis Contracaecum TerranovaHysterothylacium

AnisakisAnisakis

Platycephalus sp.

Scomber australasicus

Seriola hippos

Seriola lalandi

Sillago flindersi

Grammatorcynus bicarinatus

Thunnus albacores

Eudyptula minor

Kogia breviceps

A. typica

A. pegreffii(dolphins)

(whale)

A. simplex C(dolphins)

Ani

saki

s

Con

trac

aecu

m

Ani

saki

s

Ani

saki

s

Ani

saki

s10

15

20

25

37

50

75100150250

Immunoblot with anti-tropomyosin antibody

10

15

20

25

37

50

75100150250

Anisakis Contracaecum

Immunoblot using monoclonal anti-parvalbumin antibody

1 2 3 4

10 kDa

Dish Country of OriginSushi or sashimi JapanCeviche (raw fish marinated in lemon juice) South AmericaBoquerones en vinagre (anchovy in vinegar sauce) SpainAlici marinate (pickled anchovies) ItalyGreen herring (salted or smoked) The NetherlandsRollmops (pickled herring) GermanyGravlax (dry, cured salmon) ScandinaviaLomi-lomi (raw salmon) HawaiiSmoked snoek or undercooked cater (snoek roe) South AfricaSmoked salmon U.K.Seared tuna Italy, U.K., U.S.A.Raw caviar/fish roe RussiaFish tripe (undercooked) MalaysiaUndercooked fresh fish, e.g., hake, cod WorldwideUndercooked molluscs and crustaceans Worldwide

Improved quality control of potentially contaminated seafood with Anisakis will protect the consumer, but can only be

achieved by developing reliable molecular tools for specific detection.

Conclusion and summary

Broad diversity of anisakids in Australia