Giardia duodenalis in colony stray cats from Italy

Abstract

Giardia duodenalis is the most common intestinal protozoan in humans and animals worldwide, including eight morphologically identical assemblages, infecting pets, livestock, wildlife and human beings. Assemblages A and B are those with the higher zoonotic potential, and they have been detected in several mammals other than humans; the others (C to H) show a higher host specificity. Cats can harbour both the specific Assemblage F and the zoonotic ones A and B. Several studies have been carried out on G. duodenalis genotypes in cats; however, the role of this species in the epidemiology of giardiasis is still poorly understood. In this scenario, the present study carried out the detection and genetic characterization at sub-assemblage level of G. duodenalis from colony stray cats in central Italy. In the period 2018-2019, 133 cat faecal samples were analysed for the presence of G. duodenalis cysts by a direct immunofluorescence assay. Positive samples were subsequently subjected to molecular analyses for assemblage/sub-assemblage identification. Forty-seven samples (35.3%) were positive for G. duodenalis cysts by immunofluorescence. G. duodenalis DNA was amplified at SSU-rDNA locus from 39 isolates: 37 were positive for zoonotic Assemblage A and 2 showed a mixed infection (A + B). Positive results for the β-giardin gene were achieved for 25 isolates. Sequence analysis revealed 16 isolates belonging to Sub-assemblage AII and 8 to Sub-assemblage AIII. One isolate resulted as ambiguous AI/AIII. Large sequence variability at the sub-assemblage level was detected, with several double peaks and mutations, making complex a proper isolate allocation. When compared with previous studies, the 35.3% prevalence of G. duodenalis in cats reported in the present article was surprisingly high. Moreover, all positive cats resulted to be infected with zoonotic assemblages/sub-assemblages, thus indicating stray cats as a possible source of human giardiasis and highlighting the sanitary relevance of cat colonies in the study area.

Occurrence of Giardia duodenalis in Cats from Queretaro and the Risk to Public Health

“…The presence of assemblage A raises the concern of zoonotic transmission due to the association with the presence of clinical signs of the disease [ 13 ]. This coincides with other reports in which the zoonotic assemblages dominated in the cat population [ 24 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]; in contrast, some studies have detected cat-specific assemblage (F) at a higher frequency [ 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Here, further genetic characterization showed that assemblage AII was present at a higher proportion (57%) than assemblage AI (42%), coinciding with Procesi et al [ 63 ].…”

“…This coincides with other reports in which the zoonotic assemblages dominated in the cat population [ 24 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]; in contrast, some studies have detected cat-specific assemblage (F) at a higher frequency [ 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Here, further genetic characterization showed that assemblage AII was present at a higher proportion (57%) than assemblage AI (42%), coinciding with Procesi et al [ 63 ]. Because AII is predominantly present in humans and is associated with virulence factors that may trigger clinical manifestations, this finding raises the concern for zoonotic transmission [ 69 , 70 ].…”

Microscopic and molecular diagnoses of Giardia duodenalis in pet animals in Babylon Province, Iraq

“…A homology search was conducted using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool available at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and the BioEdit program, version 7.2. The results were compared with data obtained from the GenBank and the ExPASY program (SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Switzerland) available on the NCBI website [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Ein Update zur felinen und caninen Giardiose

“…Es ist davon auszugehen, dass 8-30 % der mit Giardien infizierten Tiere von zoonotischen Genotypen betroffen sind [13,23]. Mischinfektionen mit verschiedenen Assemblages können vorgefunden werden [13,24,25].…”