BACKGROUND: Several inhalant allergens are newly identified from arthropods including insects or arachnids recently. Aphids (Heteroptera: Aphididae) are widespread sucking insects, which are parasitic on numerous host plants such as various crops, trees and weeds. Among aphids, Aphis gossypii is a particularly polyphagous species that has been described on almost 300 host plants from various botanical families. Thus A. gossypii is found throughout the country and is a species anyone can easily contact. It is unknown whether aphids have a role in the pathogenesis of respiratory allergy. OBJECTIVE: We assumed that aphids can act as an inhalant allergen on the hypothesis that numerous allergenic materials are released from aphids and become airborne. Using a representative species, A. gossypii, this study was performed to evaluate the antigenicity of an aphid allergen in patients with respiratory allergic diseases. METHODS: Skin prick test with crude extracts of A. gossypii and 50 common inhalant allergens was performed for 225 subjects with respiratory allergic diseases (bronchial asthma and/or rhinitis). A. gossypii-specific IgE (sIgE) were detected by means of ELISA, and IgE- binding components were identified by SDS-PAGE with immunoblot analysis. RESULTS: Of the 225 enrolled subjects, 37 (16.4%) subjects showed positive skin reactivity to A. gossypii. Of them, 17 (7.6%) subjects had A. gossypii-sIgE by ELISA. The SDS-PAGE of A. gossypii extracts showed various protein bands ranging from 9 to 200 kd. Of them, diverse IgE-binding pattern was noted for individual subject by immunoblot analysis. The inhibitory ELISA results indicated that IgE binding to A. gossypii was partially inhibited by the allergenic extracts of house dust mite (HDM), cockroach, or other aphid (Acyrthosiphon kondoi). Finally, A. gossypii-bronchial challenge test was conducted for one asthmatic farmer with skin reactivity to A. gossypii and strong job-related symptoms, but showed no significant response. CONCLUSION: A. gossypii can elicit IgE response in some patients with respiratory allergic diseases. A. gossypii may have a cross-reactivity with HDM and cockroach. Further study will be needed to evaluate its clinical significance in respiratory allergy patients.
Allergens ; Aphids* ; Arachnida ; Arthropods ; Asthma ; Cockroaches ; Complex Mixtures ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoglobulin E ; Insects ; Pyroglyphidae ; Skin ; Trees

Ants(Family Formicidae) are very successful organisms occuring in trernendous numbers worldwide in terrestrial habitats. All ant species may bite, and on species sting. 48 species in 26 genus have been reported in Korea, but only systemic reaction induced by the anti Brachyponera chinersis, has been reported in the Korea terature. A 48 year old man was stung on the neck, abdomen, and dorsum of the hand by flying stinging ants. He experienced moderate pain, burning and itching sensation. Clinical course and histopathologic findings of the lesions caused by the stinging ant was observed without specific treatment. The stinging ants collected from t,he patient.s skin and his house were identified as Euponera chosensis belonging to Subfamily Ponerinae. To the best of our know ledge, this is the first clinical repor of the insect sting by Euponera chosensis in the Korean literature.
Abdomen ; Ants ; Bites and Stings ; Burns ; Diptera ; Ecosystem ; Hand ; Humans ; Insect Bites and Stings* ; Insects* ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Pruritus ; Sensation ; Skin

Wolbachia is an obligatory intracellular endosymbiotic bacterium, present in over 20% of all insects altering insect reproductive capabilities and in a wide range of filarial worms which is essential for worm survival and reproduction. In Egypt, no available data were found about Wolbachia searching for it in either mosquitoes or filarial worms. Thus, we aimed to identify the possible concurrent presence of Wolbachia within different mosquitoes and filarial parasites, in Assiut Governorate, Egypt using multiplex PCR. Initially, 6 pools were detected positive for Wolbachia by single PCR. The simultaneous detection of Wolbachia and filarial parasites (Wuchereria bancrofti, Dirofilaria immitis, and Dirofilaria repens) by multiplex PCR was spotted in 5 out of 6 pools, with an overall estimated rate of infection (ERI) of 0.24%. Unexpectedly, the highest ERI (0.53%) was for Anopheles pharoensis with related Wolbachia and W. bancrofti, followed by Aedes (0.42%) and Culex (0.26%). We also observed that Wolbachia altered Culex spp. as a primary vector for W. bancrofti to be replaced by Anopheles sp. Wolbachia within filaria-infected mosquitoes in our locality gives a hope to use bacteria as a new control trend simultaneously targeting the vector and filarial parasites.
Aedes ; Anopheles ; Bacteria ; Culex ; Culicidae* ; Dirofilaria ; Dirofilaria immitis ; Dirofilaria repens ; Egypt* ; Hope ; Insects ; Larva* ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Parasites ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reproduction ; Wolbachia* ; Wuchereria bancrofti

Bovine abortion, diarrhea, and respiratory disease complexes, caused by infectious agents, result in high and significant economic losses for the cattle industry. These pathogens are likely transmitted by various vectors and reservoirs including insects, birds, and rodents. However, experimental data supporting this possibility are scarce. We collected 117 samples and screened them for 44 bovine abortive, diarrheal, and respiratory disease complex pathogens by using Dembo polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is based on TaqMan real-time PCR. Fifty-seven samples were positive for at least one pathogen, including bovine viral diarrhea virus, bovine enterovirus, Salmonella enterica ser. Dublin, Salmonella enterica ser. Typhimurium, and Neospora caninum; some samples were positive for multiple pathogens. Bovine viral diarrhea virus and bovine enterovirus were the most frequently detected pathogens, especially in flies, suggesting an important role of flies in the transmission of these viruses. Additionally, we detected the N. caninum genome from a cockroach sample for the first time. Our data suggest that insects (particularly flies), birds, and rodents are potential vectors and reservoirs of abortion, diarrhea, and respiratory infectious agents, and that they may transmit more than one pathogen at the same time.
Animals ; Birds ; Cattle ; Cockroaches ; Diarrhea Viruses, Bovine Viral ; Diarrhea ; Diptera ; Disease Reservoirs ; Disease Vectors ; Enterovirus ; Enterovirus, Bovine ; Genome ; Insects ; Neospora ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rodentia ; Salmonella enterica ; Virulence Factors

*Aedes ; *Anopheles ; *Culex ; *Filariasis ; *Malaysia ; *Statistics ; *Wuchereria

OBJECTIVES: Chironomus riparius, a non-biting midge (Chironomidae, Diptera), is extensively used as a model organism in aquatic ecotoxicological studies, and considering the potential of C. riparius larvae as a bio-monitoring species, little is known about its genome sequences. This study reports the results of an Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) sequencing project conducted on C. riparius larvae using 454 pyrosequencing. METHODS: To gain a better understanding of C. riparius transcriptome, we generated ESTs database of C. ripairus using pyrosequencing method. RESULTS: Sequencing runs, using normalized cDNA collections from fourth instar larvae, yielded 20,020 expressed sequence tags, which were assembled into 8,565 contigs and 11,455 singletons. Sequence analysis was performed by BlastX search against the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) nucleotide (nr) and uniprot protein database. Based on the gene ontology classifications, 24% (E-value < or =1(-5)) of the sequences had known gene functions, 24% had unknown functions and 52% of sequences did not match any known sequences in the existing database. Sequence comparison revealed 81% of the genes have homologous genes among other insects belonging to the order Diptera providing tools for comparative genome analyses. Targeted searches using these annotations identified genes associated with essential metabolic pathways, signaling pathways, detoxification of toxic metabolites and stress response genes of ecotoxicological interest. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from this study would eventually make ecotoxicogenomics possible in a truly environmentally relevant species, such as, C. riparius.
Biotechnology ; Chironomidae ; Databases, Protein ; Diptera ; DNA, Complementary ; Ecotoxicology ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; Genome ; Insects ; Larva ; Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; Sequence Analysis ; Transcriptome

Background: Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1819) is an invasive freshwater snail in the Philippines that damages crops but is consumed as food. It is known to harbor parasites, some of which are pathogenic to humans. Objectives: The objective of this study is to examine P. canaliculata individuals present in Metro Manila for parasite infection and identify the parasites and other organisms associated with the snail using molecular identification. Methodology: P. canaliculata were collected from rivers and marketplaces in Metro Manila. Individuals were crushed and digested in Ash's digestive fluid and observed under a microscope. Collected parasites were subjected to DNA barcoding of the COI gene for putative identification. Results: A total of 462 snails were gathered from 15 sites, eight of which were market areas that sourced the snails from outside Metro Manila. No known parasites were found. Two snails were found to contain insect larvae in the mantle (0.43% infection). The closest BLAST matches for the two insect larvae were the chironomid fly Nilodorum tainanus (91.0% identity) from a snail in Sucat, Muntinlupa, and another chironomid Parachironomus sp. (92.8% identity) found in a snail originally from Cavite and brought to Calumpang, Marikina. Conclusion This study is the first report of the presence of chironomids in Philippine P. canaliculata. This could have an impact on the allergenic status of these mollusks if consumed while containing these chironomids. The absence of infection of other medically important parasites is possibly due to the patchy distribution of the snails and few interactions with the definitive hosts of known parasites.
Chironomidae ; Diptera

A 22-year-old man visited our clinic with a 1 month history of pruritic, multiple and erythematous papules with crust. At first, he was asymptomatic, but the bites subsequently became hard and developed into pruritic papules. There are many small black flying insects in the Gangwon province where he worked. He found that some of the insects had attached to the skin lesions, and so were brought to us. They were identified as blackflies, of the Simulium sp. Since there have been no reports of blackfly bite in Korea, we herein report a case of blackfly bites by Simulium sp.
Diptera ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Insects ; Korea ; Simuliidae* ; Skin ; Young Adult

It is difficult to estimate PMI of whom died long times ago, because corpse goes by many decomposition stages. So it makes investigation more difficult. Nowadays many studies about PMI estimation have been performed. In other countries, forensic entomology studies which is possible to estimate not characteristic of death site but also exact death time are actively advanced. So forensic entomology has been more important related not PMI estimation but also many lawsuits in other countries. In Korea, the necessity of Forensic entomology has increased after occuring of the case 'Gaeguri Sonyeon(missing boys who went to catch a flog)'. In this case, regional characteristic is known by insects found on the corpse or clothes. We suggest possibility of applying forensic entomology, consideration, some limitations and the direction of the future study through the analysis, comparison with true facts, and PMI estimation using collected fly larvae in "Hwaseong Case".
Cadaver ; Diptera ; Entomology* ; Female ; Humans ; Insects ; Korea ; Larva

A 53-year-old man developed some erythematous follicular macules accompanied with tingling sensation on both shoulders. Histologic finding showed a dense lymphocytic infiltrate around the infundibular portion of the follicle, where separation of the dermoepidermal junction was seen. The insect, obtained from the skin lesion, was identified as a larva of an Ap- hid
Aphids ; Cryptococcosis* ; Humans ; Insect Bites and Stings ; Insects ; Larva ; Middle Aged ; Sensation ; Shoulder ; Skin