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Detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in vegetables from street markets from the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Area in China

  • Protozoology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Cryptosporidium and Giardia are well-known parasitic protozoans responsible for waterborne and foodborne diarrhoeal diseases. However, data are not available on market vegetables contaminated with Cryptosporidium and Giardia in China. In the present study, 642 different vegetable samples were collected from Xining City street vendors in the Qinghai Province to study the Cryptosporidium and Giardia contamination rates via PCR and sequence analyses. Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis were detected in 16 (2.5%) and 73 (11.4%) samples, respectively. Two species of Cryptosporidium, C. parvum (n = 11) and C. andersoni (n = 5), were identified. G. duodenalis assemblage B was identified in almost all positive samples (n = 72), except one sample that contained G. duodenalis assemblage E. We report on the rate of Cryptosporidium and Giardia contamination in vegetables for the first time from the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Area (QTPA) in China.

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Funding

This project was supported by the One Thousand Talents Plan of the Chinese Government (No. WQ2013630172).

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Author notes

  1. Xiuping Li and Xueyong Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture Qinghai University, Centre for Biomedicine and Infectious Diseases, Qinghai Academy of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Qinghai University, Xining, 810016, People’s Republic of China

    Xiuping Li, Xueyong Zhang, Yingna Jian, Geping Wang, Liqing Ma & Panagiotis Karanis

  2. University of Cologne, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Panagiotis Karanis

  3. Department of Basic and Clinical Sciences, Nicosia University Medical School, 2408, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Chad Schou & Panagiotis Karanis

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  1. Xiuping Li
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Li, X., Zhang, X., Jian, Y. et al. Detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in vegetables from street markets from the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Area in China. Parasitol Res 119, 1847–1855 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06661-z

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