Prevalence Of Giardia Duodenalis And Cryptosporidium Spp. In Adult Goats In Parts Of Sichuan Province

Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium are two of great importance genera of zoonotic intestinal parasitic protozoa that infect humans and a variety of animals,including livestock,companion animals,and wildlife,causing chronic diarrhea and intestinal stress syndrome,which can affect the growth and development of animals and then result in great economic loss to husbandry.Sheep or goats are important economic animals in our country.To date,many articles about G.duodenalis infection in goats have been reported abroad,but In China,information regarding G.duodenalis or Cryptosporidium infection in goats is limited,even no information in Sichuan province,southwestern China.So,epidemiological investigation and genotyping of G.duodenalis and Cryptosporidium in captive adult goats in Sichuan province were carried out in order to provide basic data for the prevention and control of giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis of goats.From June to November 2017,a total of 364 fecal samples were randomly collected from 15 goat(18-24 months)farms(seven are intensive farming and eight are loose house breeding)in parts of Sichuan province.After extracting DNA,the β-giardin(bg),tpi and gdh genes,for detection of Giardia spp.,were amplified by nested PCR,and the nested PCR of Cryptosporidium spp.was performed targeting the 18 S r RNA gene,then the amplified products were sequenced and phylogenetic analysis was carried out.The results were obtained as follows:1.The overall infection rate of Giardia duodenalis in adult goats was 15.1%(55/364)with extremely significant difference(P<0.01)among all the G.duodenalis positive regions and significant difference(P>0.05)in the prevalence between two breeding patterns.The infection rate of Giardia duodenalis for intensive farming group is 22.4% while for loose house breeding group is 8.4%..Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that all G.duodenalis were identified as assemblage E and four(E5,E8,E17 and E18),two(E2 and E4),and two(E3 and E4)subtypes were successfully identified based on bg,tpi and gdh genes respectively,with two novel genotypes(assemblage E17 and E18)detected at beta-giardin(bg)locus.Based on multilocus genotyping(MLGs),31 positive isolates were successfully amplified on all the three loci(bg,tpi,and gdh),forming three novel assemblage E MLGs(MLG-E1(sc),MLG-E2(sc),and MLG-E3(sc)).2.The overall infection rate of Cryptosporidium in adult goats was 4.9%(18/364)and all the six Cryptosporidium-positive farmsare loose house breeding,with significant difference at P<0.01 in the prevalence between different breeding patterns and different regions.Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that two genotypes of Cryptosporidium(C.xiaoi and C.suis)were identified,with C.xiaoi being prevalent.Notably,it’s the first time C.suis infection has been identified in adult goats,further expanding the host range of this species.In summary,this study shows that there exists Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium infection in captive adult goats in surveyed area of Sichuan province with significant difference in the prevalence between different breeding patterns.All G.duodenalis were identified as assemblage which is zoonotic,with two novel genotypes(assemblages E17 and E18)being detected at the beta-giardin(bg)locus.Two genotypes of Cryptosporidium were detected(C.xiaoi and C.suis),and C.suis is zoonotic.It’s the first time C.suis infection has been identified in adult goats,further expanding the host range of this species.