Prevalence of Capillaria philippinensis in diarrheic patients using the small subunit ribosomal DNA (ssurDNA) gene

C. philippinensis is a parasite of the small intestine that causes a severe enteropathy and at times death in cases of delayed diagnosis or inappropriate treatment. This study aims to detect the molecular prevalence of C. philippinensis among diarrheic patients at Beni-Suef, Egypt. Stool samples were collected from 121 diarrheic patients and subjected to copro-parasitological examination and copro-nested PCR (nPCR) assays using small subunit ribosomal DNA (ssurDNA) gene. C. philippinensis was detected microscopically in diarrheic stool samples of 7 (5.8%) cases and PCR product of Capillaria was detected in 14 samples (11.6%), all positive samples by microscopy were detected by PCR. Durations of diarrhea and number of motions/day were correlated with the infection. Recurrence and severity of diarrhea, borborgymi, lower limb edema and presence of charcot Leyden crystals in stool were significantly associated with capillariasis (p value=0.0001, 0.0001, 0.006, 0.0001, 0.0001 respectively). Detection of capillariasis using nPCR targeting ssurDNA gene is a specific and accurate method and can identify infection avoiding the delay in management and possible complications.