MOLECULAR STUDY OF HUMAN HEAD LICE, PEDICULUS HUMANUS CAPITIS COMPARISON WITH GOAT SUCKING LICE, LINOGNATHUS STENOPSIS (BURMEISTER) STRAINS

Abstract

In this study, only (122) out of (915) primary school students were shown to be infected with head lice Pediculus. humanus capitis. The number and percentage of infected males was 46 (11.3%), while the number and percentage of infected females was 76 (14.9%). The results in our study also showed that the number and percentage of goats infected with goat sucking lice, Linognathus stenopsis was 70 (21.7%) of the total 322 animals, with the highest number and percentage among female goats 44 (62.9%) compared to the male goats 26 (37.1%). The study demonstrated that rate of genetic difference between the studied samples was 89% and the similarity rate was 11%. Detection of OP-K01 gene pieces by PCR products showed that the amplicon size was 520 bp for P. humanus capitis isolated from humans, while the detection of OP-E20 and OP-M05 gene pieces with PCR product showed the lowest amplicon size 230 bp for Linognathus stenopsis isolated from goats.