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      Occurrence of Giardia duodenalis assemblages in farmed long-tailed chinchillas Chinchilla lanigera (Rodentia) from Romania

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          Abstract

          Background

          Giardia duodenalis is a parasitic protist that infects a large number of species, being localized in the small intestine. Two of the eight recognized assemblages have zoonotic potential, but studies regarding their distribution in less important pet or farm species are scarce. Of these species, the long-tailed chinchilla is a host for Giardia spp., although data on the spread of infection and assemblages involved are confined. The present work aimed to determine the prevalence of Giardia infection and assemblage identification in farmed chinchillas in Romania. A total of 341 fecal samples were collected from 5 farms and microscopically examined using flotation test based on saturated sodium chloride solution. DNA from all positive samples was extracted and identified by PCR targeting the gdh gene.

          Results

          The overall prevalence of Giardia infection was 55.7% (190/341); there was no statistically significant difference ( P = 0.25) in prevalence between young animals (58.8%) and adults (52.6%). Assemblages B (151/190), D (33/190) and E (6/190) were identified. Among assemblage B, sub-assemblages BIII (6/151) and BIV (145/151) were determined.

          Conclusions

          This study demonstrates that Giardia spp. infection is highly prevalent in farmed chinchillas from Romania, and the sub-assemblages identified are potentially zoonotic.

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          Most cited references45

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          Zoonotic potential and molecular epidemiology of Giardia species and giardiasis.

          Molecular diagnostic tools have been used recently in assessing the taxonomy, zoonotic potential, and transmission of Giardia species and giardiasis in humans and animals. The results of these studies have firmly established giardiasis as a zoonotic disease, although host adaptation at the genotype and subtype levels has reduced the likelihood of zoonotic transmission. These studies have also identified variations in the distribution of Giardia duodenalis genotypes among geographic areas and between domestic and wild ruminants and differences in clinical manifestations and outbreak potentials of assemblages A and B. Nevertheless, our efforts in characterizing the molecular epidemiology of giardiasis and the roles of various animals in the transmission of human giardiasis are compromised by the lack of case-control and longitudinal cohort studies and the sampling and testing of humans and animals living in the same community, the frequent occurrence of infections with mixed genotypes and subtypes, and the apparent heterozygosity at some genetic loci for some G. duodenalis genotypes. With the increased usage of multilocus genotyping tools, the development of next-generation subtyping tools, the integration of molecular analysis in epidemiological studies, and an improved understanding of the population genetics of G. duodenalis in humans and animals, we should soon have a better appreciation of the molecular epidemiology of giardiasis, the disease burden of zoonotic transmission, the taxonomy status and virulences of various G. duodenalis genotypes, and the ecology of environmental contamination.
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            Genomic minimalism in the early diverging intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia.

            The genome of the eukaryotic protist Giardia lamblia, an important human intestinal parasite, is compact in structure and content, contains few introns or mitochondrial relics, and has simplified machinery for DNA replication, transcription, RNA processing, and most metabolic pathways. Protein kinases comprise the single largest protein class and reflect Giardia's requirement for a complex signal transduction network for coordinating differentiation. Lateral gene transfer from bacterial and archaeal donors has shaped Giardia's genome, and previously unknown gene families, for example, cysteine-rich structural proteins, have been discovered. Unexpectedly, the genome shows little evidence of heterozygosity, supporting recent speculations that this organism is sexual. This genome sequence will not only be valuable for investigating the evolution of eukaryotes, but will also be applied to the search for new therapeutics for this parasite.
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              Zoonotic potential of Giardia.

              Giardia duodenalis (syn. Giardia lamblia and Giardia intestinalis) is a common intestinal parasite of humans and mammals worldwide. Assessing the zoonotic transmission of the infection requires molecular characterization as there is considerable genetic variation within G. duodenalis. To date eight major genetic groups (assemblages) have been identified, two of which (A and B) are found in both humans and animals, whereas the remaining six (C to H) are host-specific and do not infect humans. Sequence-based surveys of single loci have identified a number of genetic variants (genotypes) within assemblages A and B in animal species, some of which may have zoonotic potential. Multi-locus typing data, however, has shown that in most cases, animals do not share identical multi-locus types with humans. Furthermore, interpretation of genotyping data is complicated by the presence of multiple alleles that generate "double peaks" in sequencing files from PCR products, and by the potential exchange of genetic material among isolates, which may account for the non-concordance in the assignment of isolates to specific assemblages. Therefore, a better understanding of the genetics of this parasite is required to allow the design of more sensitive and variable subtyping tools, that in turn may help unravel the complex epidemiology of this infection. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                gherman.calin@usamvcluj.ro
                zsuzsa.kalmar@usamvcluj.ro
                titlincua@yahoo.com
                mircean.viorica@yahoo.com
                Journal
                Parasit Vectors
                Parasit Vectors
                Parasites & Vectors
                BioMed Central (London )
                1756-3305
                7 February 2018
                7 February 2018
                2018
                : 11
                : 86
                Affiliations
                ISNI 0000 0001 1012 5390, GRID grid.413013.4, Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases Department Cluj-Napoca, , University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, ; Cluj-Napoca, Romania
                Article
                2652
                10.1186/s13071-018-2652-8
                5804011
                29415759
                e2294872-e3d2-4c1a-87c0-683f8055e0c1
                © The Author(s). 2018

                Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 8 June 2017
                : 16 January 2018
                Funding
                Funded by: This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNDI—UEFISCDI, project number 110/2012.
                Award ID: 110/2012
                Award Recipient :
                Categories
                Short Report
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2018

                Parasitology
                farmed long-tailed chinchilla,chinchilla lanigera,giardia duodenalis,prevalence,assemblages,romania

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