Northeast India Helminth Parasite Information Database (NEIHPID): Knowledge Base for Helminth Parasites.

Abstract

Most metazoan parasites that invade vertebrate hosts belong to three phyla: Platyhelminthes, Nematoda and Acanthocephala. Many of the parasitic members of these phyla are collectively known as helminths and are causative agents of many debilitating, deforming and lethal diseases of humans and animals. The North-East India Helminth Parasite Information Database (NEIHPID) project aimed to document and characterise the spectrum of helminth parasites in the north-eastern region of India, providing host, geographical distribution, diagnostic characters and image data. The morphology-based taxonomic data are supplemented with information on DNA sequences of nuclear, ribosomal and mitochondrial gene marker regions that aid in parasite identification. In addition, the database contains raw next generation sequencing (NGS) data for 3 foodborne trematode parasites, with more to follow. The database will also provide study material for students interested in parasite biology. Users can search the database at various taxonomic levels (phylum, class, order, superfamily, family, genus, and species), or by host, habitat and geographical location. Specimen collection locations are noted as co-ordinates in a MySQL database and can be viewed on Google maps, using Google Maps JavaScript API v3. The NEIHPID database has been made freely available at http://nepiac.nehu.ac.in/index.php.