Detection of Giardia Antigen in Puppies Using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay

Prevalence of Giardia intestinalis Infection in Household Cats of Tohoku District in Japan

“…There was no difference in positive rate between the cats originated from private cat owner and from pet shop/breeding cattery, although the examined number of cats from pet shop/breeding cattery was limited. The previous studies in dogs have been demonstrated that the pet shop/breeding kennel provides the chance for Giardia infection [3][4][5]. On the other hand, the present study suggests that the pet shop/breeding cattery seems to be not essential for Giardia infection in cats.…”

“…Saito et al [13][14][15] previously reported the lower detection rates of G. intestinalis such as 0.8-1.7% in household cats in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, based on the results of conventional microscopic fecal examination (concentrated brine flotation technique). This contradiction is probably not due to the investigative district but due to the analyzing method to examine Giardia infection, because the ELISA kit used in the present study is more sensitive for detecting Giardia infection than the conventional microscopic techniques [4,8,16]. McGlade et al [8] showed that the positive rates for G. intestinalis in 40 feline fecal samples were 5, 80 and 60% by means of microscopy (zinc sulfate flotation technique), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and ELISA, respectively.…”

“…Because 78% (72/92) of urban cats were kept indoors with less chance of Giardia infection, while 51% (259/508) of suburban cats were kept indoors. In dogs, the high percentage infection of G. intestinalis is recognized in animals aged 1-6 months old, kept indoors and from pet shop/breeding kennel [3,4]. In contrast, the high level infection was recorded in cats of all ages, kept indoors/ outdoors and outdoors.…”

Prevalence of Giardia intestinalis Infection in Dogs of Breeding Kennels in Japan

“…In the present study, a commercial ELISA kit was applied to evaluate the prevalence of Giardia infection in dogs of breeding kennels, since the previous study suggested that the ELISA kit was more sensitive to detect Giardia infection than the conventional microscopic technique [4]. Giardia antigen was detected in all of breeding kennels examined in the present study.…”

“…G. intestinalis infection in dogs, especially in puppies, is recognized to be clinically important due to its high prevalence [3,4,6], serious symptoms in some occasions [5,10], and possibility as zoonosis [9,11]. There have been several epidemiological reports including our articles [3,4] and others [10,12], suggesting that pet shops and/or breeding kennels play a significant role as a source of pathogen in G. intestinalis infection of puppies. Nevertheless, only a few reports have been described on the presence of G. intestinalis infection in dogs of breeding kennels in Japan [10] and other countries [2].…”