Prevalence and risk factors of Giardia duodenalis in domestic rabbbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in Jilin and Liaoning province, northeastern China

Abstract

This study not only further confirmed the dominance of G. duodenalis assemblage B in rabbits, but also further improved the foundation data concerning the distribution of G. duodenalis assemblages in China.

Prevalence and Genotype Distribution of Giardia duodenalis in Rabbits in Shandong Province, Eastern China

“…e results showed that 53 bg-positive samples and 39 gdh-positive samples were identified as assemblage E; two (2.9%, 2/69) tpi-positive samples and one (1.5%, 1/69) tpi-positive sample were identified as assemblage B and assemblage A, respectively. Interestingly, the assemblage E (98.6%, 68/69) was the dominant genotype in rabbits in the present study, which was different from the previous studies [18,19]. Moreover, two mixed G. duodenalis assemblages (assemblages A and E, assemblages B and E) were identified in rabbits, and the assemblage A was firstly detected in rabbits in China in the present study.…”

“…e G. duodenalis prevalence in male rabbits (11.5%) (95% CI: 7.70-15.33) was slightly higher (χ 2 � 0.05, df � 1, P � 0.82) than that in female rabbits (11.0%) (95% CI: 7.67-14.22) ( Table 2). In the present study, the overall G. duodenalis prevalence in rabbits was 11.2% (69/616), which was higher than that in rabbits in Henan province (8.4%, 80/955) [15], Jilin province and Liaoning province (9.86%, 42/426) [18], Heilongjiang province (7.41%, 28/378) [20], Xinjiang province (1.9%, 6/ 321) [19] in China, and in Europe (7.6%, 40/528) [16] and Melbourne, Australia (1.03%, 1/97) [22], but lower than that in rabbits in Ecuador (20.0%, 4/20) [17]. e different G. duodenalis prevalence in rabbits may be caused by many factors such as geographical ecological environment, detection methods, sample size, and individual health status [23].…”

“…Two G. duodenalis assemblages (assemblages B and E) have been reported in rabbits in China [15,[18][19][20]. In the present study, 616 rabbit fecal samples were used to identify G. duodenalis genotypes by nested PCR targeting the bg, gdh, and tpi genes.…”

“…Rabbits are one of the most important economic animals in China, and the consumption of meat and fur accounts for a large part of China's economy [12]. However, rabbits are susceptible to many pathogens [5,13,14], including G. duodenalis [15][16][17][18][19][20], which can cause significant economic losses to the rabbit breeding industry.…”

“…ere are limited reports about G. duodenalis prevalence in rabbits in China [15,[18][19][20]; therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and genotype distribution of G. duodenalis in rabbits in Shandong province, eastern China.…”