Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Giardia duodenalis in Cats in Babylon Province, Iraq

Giardia duodenalis في القطط في محافظة بابل

Abstract

Giardia is a genus of the highest prevalent flagellated protozoa in human and other mammals. The study aimed to detect prevalence microscopically and genetic diversity of Giardia duodenalis isolates from cats and identify the risk of zoonotic transmission in Babylon province, Iraq. A total number of one hundred fecal samples (36 male, 64 female) were collected from cats of different ages. Microscopic method used for determining the ratio of Giardia duodenalis infection in cats. Molecular techniques; Nested-PCR used to determine the types of Giardia assemblages in cats, targeting triose phosphate isomerase gene (tpi) on the positive samples. The total infection of Giardia duodenalis was 24% by using conventional microscopic method in cats. Based on the gender In the relation to gender there was significant difference between female (31.25%) and male (11.11%). The highest infection rate was recorded at age < 2 years old (33.33%) and the lowest at age > 4 years old (16.66%). The highest (70.83%) of cat positive samples were allocated to assemblages F, followed by (33.33%) assemblage A and the lowest assemblages B (29.16%) with significant difference (P≤0.05). The detection of Giardia duodenalis assemblage A and B in cats indicated that cats pose a threat to human health by zoonotic transmission.