Studies on the Giardiasis as the Zoonosis

Abstract

To obtain the basic data on the route of Giardia infection as zoonosis, of many regions in Japan, the feces from 2218 dogs were examined for detection of Giardia cysts. Giardia cysts were detected in 239 of the 2218 dogs (10.9%), which was the same as previous reports from America. None were found from the owners of 51 dogs in which Giardia cysts were detected. The detection rates of each facilities were, 68 of 366 (18.6%) from the breeder's kennels, 169 of 1811 (9.3%) in individual houses, 2 of 42 (4.9%) from research institutes. The detection rate of the breeder's kennels was higher than the other two facilities (p less than 0.05, p less than 0.001). The detection rates of Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures among 17 regions in Japan were higher than the others (p less than 0.001, p less than 0.05). Especially in Shizuoka, the rate of the individual houses was higher than from breeder's kennels. In kanagawa the rates of the individual houses and the breeders kennels were higher than the mean in Japan (p less than 0.001). Therefore one must instruct the breeders when teaching health education to included zoonosis, and that the detection rate of the age groups of less than 3 years old was high-221 of 1276 (17.3%). Since the detection rates of Giardia cysts in the dogs were low, the possibility that human infection acquired from dogs was low. However, some of patients with giardiasis we encountered had never been abroad, and it is not yet clear whether Giardia is strictly host specific or not, so attention should be paid to the possibility of cross-infection between man and animals.

Recent Epidemiological Status of Canine Viral Enteric Infections and Giardia Infection in Japan.

“…In the present survey, microscopically 23.4% and serologically 48.2% of the stools were found to contain G. lamblia and/or the specific antigen associated with Giardia infections. The prevalence rate obtained here was slightly higher than the previous reports in Japan [3,4] and the positive results were almost equally obtained from both diarrheal and normal fecal samples. We could not determine the pathogenic potential of Giardia based on only the present epidemiological result, and it may not be enough sample numbers to get a conclusion.…”

“…Two diarrheal specimens were found to be CRV antigen-positive by RPHA as shown in Table 1. Antigenic type G3P [3] rotavirus strain KSD-88 belonging to the K9 genogroup, determined by sequencing, PCR, and RNA-RNA hybridization assays described elsewhere [17,18], was isolated from one specimen, but not from the other because of interference by bacterial contamination in the cell culture. The detection rate of CRV in the present study was low as that of the previous survey [12] and the antigenic type was the same as the previous rotavirus isolates reported [18].…”

“…It has been well known that Giardia is the most common human intestinal parasite, and domestic as well as wild animals may act as reservoirs of human infection, indicating zoonotic nature of giardiasis [11]. In dogs, the prevalence of Giardia in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Japan has been reported to be between 1% and 39% [3,4,6,11,23]. In the present survey, microscopically 23.4% and serologically 48.2% of the stools were found to contain G. lamblia and/or the specific antigen associated with Giardia infections.…”