The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income country
Giardia intestinalis, a cosmopolitan gastrointestinal protist, is detected mainly in patients with clinical giardiasis in high-income countries. In contrast, there is very little information on the presence of Giardia in asymptomatic individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the...
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Taylor & Francis Group
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Emerging Microbes and Infections |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2023.2270077 |
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| author | Kristýna Brožová Milan Jirků Zuzana Lhotská Dana Květoňová Oldřiška Kadlecová Christen Rune Stensvold Peter Samaš Klára J. Petrželková Kateřina Jirků |
| author_facet | Kristýna Brožová Milan Jirků Zuzana Lhotská Dana Květoňová Oldřiška Kadlecová Christen Rune Stensvold Peter Samaš Klára J. Petrželková Kateřina Jirků |
| author_sort | Kristýna Brožová |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Giardia intestinalis, a cosmopolitan gastrointestinal protist, is detected mainly in patients with clinical giardiasis in high-income countries. In contrast, there is very little information on the presence of Giardia in asymptomatic individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the presence and prevalence of Giardia in gut-healthy volunteers in the Czech Republic and to perform a comparative evaluation of different diagnostic methods, since Giardia diagnostics is complicated. Our results confirmed that the qPCR method is the most sensitive method for detecting Giardia and revealed a prevalence of 7% (22/296) in asymptomatic individuals. In most cases, the colonization intensity ranged from 10−1–101. A conventional PCR protocol targeting the TPI gene was used to identify the assemblages. However, this protocol had limited sensitivity for Giardia amplification, effectively detecting colonization above an intensity of 104. In addition, Giardia was detected in 19% of the animals, which were closely associated with the study participants. However, due to methodological limitations, zoonotic transmission could not be clearly confirmed. Notably, contact with animals proved to be the only factor that had a significant impact on the incidence of Giardia in gut-healthy humans. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a19d5e1c95624f52a8f4c84e297dab8e |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2222-1751 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Emerging Microbes and Infections |
| spelling | doaj-art-a19d5e1c95624f52a8f4c84e297dab8e2025-07-02T17:45:07ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEmerging Microbes and Infections2222-17512023-12-0112210.1080/22221751.2023.2270077The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income countryKristýna Brožová0Milan Jirků1Zuzana Lhotská2Dana Květoňová3Oldřiška Kadlecová4Christen Rune Stensvold5Peter Samaš6Klára J. Petrželková7Kateřina Jirků8Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech RepublicDepartment of Bacteria, Parasites and Fungi, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, DenmarkInstitute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech RepublicInstitute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech RepublicGiardia intestinalis, a cosmopolitan gastrointestinal protist, is detected mainly in patients with clinical giardiasis in high-income countries. In contrast, there is very little information on the presence of Giardia in asymptomatic individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the presence and prevalence of Giardia in gut-healthy volunteers in the Czech Republic and to perform a comparative evaluation of different diagnostic methods, since Giardia diagnostics is complicated. Our results confirmed that the qPCR method is the most sensitive method for detecting Giardia and revealed a prevalence of 7% (22/296) in asymptomatic individuals. In most cases, the colonization intensity ranged from 10−1–101. A conventional PCR protocol targeting the TPI gene was used to identify the assemblages. However, this protocol had limited sensitivity for Giardia amplification, effectively detecting colonization above an intensity of 104. In addition, Giardia was detected in 19% of the animals, which were closely associated with the study participants. However, due to methodological limitations, zoonotic transmission could not be clearly confirmed. Notably, contact with animals proved to be the only factor that had a significant impact on the incidence of Giardia in gut-healthy humans.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2023.2270077Giardia intestinalishuman volunteersqPCRconventional-PCRquantificationcontact with animals |
| spellingShingle | Kristýna Brožová Milan Jirků Zuzana Lhotská Dana Květoňová Oldřiška Kadlecová Christen Rune Stensvold Peter Samaš Klára J. Petrželková Kateřina Jirků The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income country Emerging Microbes and Infections Giardia intestinalis human volunteers qPCR conventional-PCR quantification contact with animals |
| title | The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income country |
| title_full | The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income country |
| title_fullStr | The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income country |
| title_full_unstemmed | The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income country |
| title_short | The opportunistic protist, Giardia intestinalis, occurs in gut-healthy humans in a high-income country |
| title_sort | opportunistic protist giardia intestinalis occurs in gut healthy humans in a high income country |
| topic | Giardia intestinalis human volunteers qPCR conventional-PCR quantification contact with animals |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2023.2270077 |
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