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Occurrence of bovine giardiasis and endemic genetic characterization of Giardia duodenalis isolates in Heilongjiang Province, in the Northeast of China

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Abstract

To determine the prevalence of bovine giardiasis in Heilongjiang Province in China and to molecularly characterize Giardia duodenalis, feces were collected from 814 dairy and beef cattle ranging in age from 6 days to 9 years. Clinical symptoms of diarrhea were recorded at the time of sampling. The G. duodenalis infection rate in cattle was 5.2 % (42/814) as determined by Lugol's iodine staining. G. duodenalis assemblages and subtypes were genetically diagnosed by sequence analysis of the triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) gene. Three assemblages were identified, representing A (n = 1), B (n = 18), and E (n = 24), with a mixed infection case of assemblages A and E. High heterogeneity was also observed within assemblages B and E at the TPI locus. Among the assemblages, eight subtypes of assemblage B and three subtypes of assemblage E were found to be novel subtypes. Findings on assemblages A and B are of public health importance. The zoonotic potential of bovine giardiasis needs to be further assessed by extensive genetic data of assemblages A and B from humans at the subtype level. The newly found subtypes of assemblages B and E imply that the evaluation of geographically distributed subtypes is of importance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (grant D200628), China and the Chinese Special Program for Scientific Research of Public Health (No. 200802012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Parasitology, Harbin Medical University, 194 Xuefu Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150081, China

    Aiqin Liu, Xiaoyun Zhang, Xingchao Li, Jing Shu, Xiaoli Zhang, Weizhe Zhang & Hong Ling

  2. College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Longxian Zhang & Rongjun Wang

  3. National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, 200025, China

    Yujuan Shen

Authors
  1. Aiqin Liu
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  2. Xiaoyun Zhang
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  5. Xingchao Li
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  7. Xiaoli Zhang
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  9. Weizhe Zhang
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  10. Hong Ling
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Weizhe Zhang or Hong Ling.

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Aiqin Liu and Xiaoyun Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Liu, A., Zhang, X., Zhang, L. et al. Occurrence of bovine giardiasis and endemic genetic characterization of Giardia duodenalis isolates in Heilongjiang Province, in the Northeast of China. Parasitol Res 111, 655–661 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-2883-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-2883-0

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