Prevalence, Risk Factors and Multilocus Genotyping of Giardia intestinalis in Dairy Cattle, Northwest China

Giardia intestinalis is a cosmopolitan protozoan parasite that can infect a range of animals, including dairy cattle. As information regarding the prevalence and genotyping of G. intestinalis infection in dairy cattle in northwestern China is limited, 2,945 feces samples from 1,224 dairy cattle in Gansu Province and from 1,614 in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NXHAR) were examined between December 2012 and March 2014. The overall prevalence of G. intestinalis was 3.63% (107/2,945), with 2.63% and 4.38% in Gansu and NXHAR, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed region, age and season to be significant risk factors for G. intestinalis infection. Assemblage analysis identified 106 assemblage E and one assemblage A at the triose phosphate isomerase (tpi) locus in this study. Intravariations were also detected at tpi, glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) and beta giardin (bg) loci within assemblage E, showing seven, three, and five new subtypes, respectively. Moreover, 13 new multilocus genotypes (E20-E32) were observed in assemblage E. Effective strategies and measures should be taken to prevent and control giardiasis in Gansu and NXHAR.