Korean J Parasitol.  2015 Feb;53(1):119-124. 10.3347/kjp.2015.53.1.119.

Occurrence and Molecular Identification of Giardia duodenalis from Stray Cats in Guangzhou, Southern China

• Zheng G
• Hu W
• Liu Y
• Luo Q
• Tan L
• Li G

• KMID: 2381806
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2015.53.1.119

Abstract

The objective of this study was to genetically characterize isolates of Giardia duodenalis and to determine if zoonotic potential of G. duodenalis could be found in stray cats from urban and suburban environments in Guangzhou, China. Among 102 fresh fecal samples of stray cats, 30 samples were collected in Baiyun district (urban) and 72 in Conghua district (suburban). G. duodenalis specimens were examined using light microscopy, then the positive specimens were subjected to PCR amplification and subsequent sequencing at 4 loci such as glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh), triose phosphate isomerase (tpi), beta-giardin (bg), and small subunit ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) genes. The phylogenetic trees were constructed using obtained sequences by MEGA5.2 software. Results show that 9.8% (10/102) feline fecal samples were found to be positive by microscopy, 10% (3/30) in Baiyun district and 9.7% (7/72) in Conghua district. Among the 10 positive samples, 9 were single infection (8 isolates, assemblage A; 1 isolate, assemblage F) and 1 sample was mixed infection with assemblages A and C. Based on tpi, gdh, and bg genes, all sequences of assemblage A showed complete homology with AI except for 1 isolate (CHC83). These findings not only confirmed the occurrence of G. duodenalis in stray cats, but also showed that zoonotic assemblage A was found for the first time in stray cats living in urban and suburban environments in China.

Keyword

Giardia duodenalis; multilocus genotyping; zoonotic assemblage; cat; China

MeSH Terms

Animals
Cat Diseases/*parasitology
Cats
China
Cluster Analysis
DNA, Protozoan/chemistry/genetics
DNA, Ribosomal/chemistry/genetics
Feces/parasitology
Giardia lamblia/*classification/cytology/genetics/*isolation & purification
Giardiasis/parasitology/*veterinary
Microscopy
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Protozoan Proteins/genetics
RNA, Ribosomal, 18S/genetics
Sequence Analysis, DNA
DNA, Protozoan
DNA, Ribosomal
Protozoan Proteins
RNA, Ribosomal, 18S