Browsing by Author "Tiippana, Tytti"

Dietamoeba fragilis is a very common human intestinal parasite in the world and also in Finland. D. fragilis causes dientamoebiasis in humans, and symptoms of infection may vary from mild bowel symptoms to prolonged diarrhoea and weight loss. Some of the infected patients are completely asymptomatic. Despite its prevalence, insufficient data exist on the life cycle and host organisms of D. fragilis. Interestingly, D. fragilis has been found in dogs in a few studies. Thus, more research is needed on the role of household pets as part of the parasite’s life cycle and choice of host organism. Comprehensive study on the role of dogs in the life cycle of D. fragilis is warranted. The purpose of this thesis was to design a study on the role of dogs in the D. fragilis parasite life cycle “The presence of Dientamoeba fragilis parasites and multiresistant ESBL-bacteria in dog owners and their pets”, to present research methods and to apply research permit from the ethics committee. The aim of the study is to analyze the prevalence of D. fragilis in dogs in Finland and the role of the dog in the spread of D. fragilis parasite within humans. In addition to D. fragilis, the study combines collection of samples for ESBL bacteria analyses, but this thesis focuses only on the part of study D. fragilis. Two different real-time PCR methods are tested in this project: an in-house method and an Amplidiag® Stool Parasites method, out of which Amplidiag® Stool Parasites method is selected to be used in the study. In the thesis documents for the ethics committee's referral are written and ethical permit to conduct the study from the HUS ethics committee is applied. A favourable opinion will allow a comprehensive study of dogs and humans to be carried out. Ethics permit is need to recruit participants for research on the basis of a laboratory-confirmed D. fragilis -discovery. The committee confirms that the study is ethically acceptable. During the thesis project, the committee gave the study a conditional favourable decision. The implementation of the study will start in the spring of 2023, when the final assent is received.