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Observations on Giardia infection in dogs from veterinary clinics in Germany
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Observations on Giardia infection in dogs from veterinary clinics in Germany

D. Barutzki, R.C.A. Thompson, C. Wielinga, U. Parkar and R. Schaper
Parasitology Research, Vol.101(S1), pp.153-156
2007
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0623-7
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Abstract

Recent studies have shown that dogs in Germany harbour different genotypic assemblages, predominantly C and D, but also the assemblage A, which has been confirmed as a pathogenic human genotype. To determine the prevalence of assemblage A, a first study was conducted in dogs which showed clinical signs of diarrhoea or other symptoms indicating a possible infection with Giardia. A total of 92 dogs were identified positive for Giardia by a coproantigen test, of which 65 samples were positive for cysts of Giardia using theMIFC technique.These samples were genotyped, 50 Giardia isolates were identified as assemblage D, 33 as assemblage C and eight as a mixture of both. One dog harboured a mixture of assemblage D and A. It was concluded that the predominant dog-specific assemblages C and D in this first study might be more commonly associated with GI disorders than the zoonotic genotype A. Alternatively the coproantigen test used in this study might select assemblages C + D in dogs. Therefore, in a second study randomly selected dogs presented at local veterinary clinics were examined for cysts of Giardia using theMIFC technique. A total of 58 samples of Giardia-positive dogs were genotyped: 57% belonged to assemblage D, 36% to assemblage C and 7% could be identified as the zoonotic genotype assemblage A. Comparing the 65 MIFC-positive samples from the first study with the 58 samples of the second study a significantly higher prevalence of assemblage A (P = 0.0467) was found in randomly selected dogs.

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