{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T23:24:58Z","timestamp":1790810698370,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic>Blastocystis<\/jats:italic> sp. is currently the most common eukaryotic parasite found in humans. Despite its potential public health impact, epidemiological data regarding its prevalence and molecular subtype (ST) distribution in Maghreb are rarely reported. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the parasite in a cohort of healthy food handler Tunisian individuals and to acquire the first molecular data regarding the distribution of <jats:italic>Blastocystis<\/jats:italic> sp. STs in this country. Therefore, 524 fecal samples were collected, and 68 of them (13%) were identified as positive for the parasite by direct-light microscopy of smears. Seventeen samples of 100 negative by microscopy were also shown to be positive by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Among all the positive samples, 61 <jats:italic>Blastocystis<\/jats:italic> isolates were subtyped using partial small subunit ribosomal RNA gene analysis. ST3 was the most abundant (51%) followed by ST1 (30%), ST2 (16%), and ST4 and ST7 (both 1.6%).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.16-0506","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,12,6]],"date-time":"2016-12-06T02:50:28Z","timestamp":1480992628000},"page":"202-204","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Prevalence and Subtype Identification of Blastocystis sp. in Healthy Individuals in the Tunis Area, Tunisia"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"96","author":[{"given":"Im\u00e8ne","family":"Ben Abda","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."},{"name":"Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nabil","family":"Maatoug","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."},{"name":"Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rania","family":"Ben Romdhane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nada","family":"Bouhelmi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Najet","family":"Zallegua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karim","family":"Aoun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."},{"name":"Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eric","family":"Viscogliosi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre d'Infection et d'Immunit\u00e9 de Lille, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Universit\u00e9 de Lille, Lille, France."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A\u00efda","family":"Bouratbine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnology and Biomolecules (PMBB), Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."},{"name":"Department of Parasitology, Institut Pasteur of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"ref1","series-title":"Clin Microbiol Rev","first-page":"639","article-title":"New insights on classification, 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genotypes isolated from patients with irritable bowel syndrome","volume":"12","author":"Fouad","year":"2011"},{"key":"ref23","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"702","article-title":"Identification of Cryptosporidium species infecting humans in Tunisia","volume":"79","author":"Essid","year":"2008"}],"container-title":["The American Society of Tropical Medicine and 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