Occurrence and genotyping of Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium in pre-weaned dairy calves in central Sichuan province, China.

Zhijun Zhong,Haifeng Liu,Junliang Deng,Ya Wang,Guangwen Yan,Jiaming Dan,Yinan Tian,Rui Tu,Liuhong Shen,Yi Geng,Suizhong Cao,Shumin Yu,Xiaobin Gu,Guangneng Peng

doi:10.1051/parasite/2018046

Zhijun Zhong, Haifeng Liu + Show 12 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2018046

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Abstract

Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp. are common human and animal pathogens. They have increasingly been reported in dairy calves in recent years; however, multilocus genotyping information for G. duodenalis and Cryptosporidium infecting pre-weaned dairy calves in southwestern China is limited. In the present study, the prevalence of G. duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp. in pre-weaned dairy calves in central Sichuan province was determined and the pathogens were analyzed molecularly. Of 278 fecal samples from pre-weaned dairy calves, 26 (9.4%) were positive for G. duodenalis and 40 (14.4%) were positive for Cryptosporidium spp. Cryptosporidium bovis (n = 28), Cryptosporidium ryanae (n = 5) and Cryptosporidium parvum (n = 7) were detected. All seven C. parvum isolates were successfully subtyped based on the gp60 gene sequence, and only IIdA15G1 was detected. Multilocus sequence typing of G. duodenalis based on beta-giardin (bg), triose phosphate isomerase (tpi) and glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) genes revealed 19 different assemblage E multilocus genotypes (two known and 17 unpublished genotypes). Based on eBURST analysis, a high degree of genetic diversity within assemblage E was observed in pre-weaned dairy calves in Sichuan province. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using multilocus sequence typing and eBURST analysis to characterize G. duodenalis in pre-weaned dairy calves in southwestern China.

Highlights

Protists of the genera Giardia and Cryptosporidium infect a wide range of animals as well as humans [3, 12, 19]
Current data indicate that of the eight assemblages within Giardia duodenalis, assemblages A and E and the Cryptosporidium species C. parvum, C. andersoni, C. ryanae, and C. bovis predominate in cattle worldwide [4, 20]
No information about G. duodenalis and Cryptosporidium infection of pre-weaned dairy calves was previously available in Sichuan Province

Summary

Introduction

Protists of the genera Giardia and Cryptosporidium infect a wide range of animals as well as humans [3, 12, 19]. Current data indicate that of the eight assemblages within Giardia duodenalis, assemblages A and E and the Cryptosporidium species C. parvum, C. andersoni, C. ryanae, and C. bovis predominate in cattle worldwide [4, 20]. Unlike in other countries (e.g. Australia, Sudan, Japan and India) [6, 14, 15, 24], where C. parvum is known to be the predominant species in pre-weaned calves, this does not appear to be the case everywhere in China. No information about G. duodenalis and Cryptosporidium infection of pre-weaned dairy calves was previously available in Sichuan Province. We undertook a molecular epidemiological study to obtain a preliminary snap-shot of the prevalence of G. duodenalis assemblages and Cryptosporidium genotypes in pre-weaned calves in Sichuan province, China

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

E15 E3 E3 E3 E3 E3

Conclusion