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Molecular Genotyping of Giardia duodenalis in Humans in the Andimeshk County, Southwestern Iran

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Abstract

Introduction

Giardia duodenalis, one of the most common intestinal protozoa, infects a wide range of vertebrates, including humans and animals.

Materials and methods

In this study, 84 Giardia duodenalis positive stool samples were collected from 3580 patients attending the Imam Ali Hospital and two public health centers in Andimeshk County, southwestern Iran. Stool samples were examined initially by microscopy, and then G. duodenalis was confirmed by SSU rRNA gene and genotypes were determined by amplification of the gdh and β-giardin genes.

Results

The SSU rRNA, gdh, and β-giardin genes were successfully amplified in 89.3%, 58.3%, and 51.2% samples, respectively. Of the positive samples for gdh and β-giardin, 40 isolates were successfully sequenced. Twenty-three isolates belonged to assemblage A, sub-assemblage AII, and 17 belonged to assemblage B. Of the 24 successfully amplified asymptomatic cases, 12 belonged to assemblage A and 12 belonged to assemblage B.

Conclusion

The current study found that 64.3% of the patients were asymptomatic. From an epidemiological point of view, the high percentage of asymptomatic patients is important because of their role in the transmission of Giardia. The predominant assemblage was assemblage A, sub-assemblage AII. In general, therefore, it seems that most infections are probably transmitted by anthroponotic pathways in the region.

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Acknowledgement

This project was the M.Sc. thesis of E. Mirrezaei. The authors are grateful to all patients who participated in the study.

Funding

The project was supported by Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran (Grant No. OG/94167).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 61357-15794, Ahvaz, Iran

    Ehsanallah Mirrezaie, Molouk Beiromvand, Mehdi Tavalla, Ali Teimoori & Somayeh Mirzavand

  2. Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Ehsanallah Mirrezaie, Molouk Beiromvand & Mehdi Tavalla

  3. Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Ali Teimoori

Authors
  1. Ehsanallah Mirrezaie
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  2. Molouk Beiromvand
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  3. Mehdi Tavalla
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  4. Ali Teimoori
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  5. Somayeh Mirzavand
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Contributions

MB conceived and designed the experiments; EM performed the experiments; MB and AT analyzed the data; EM, MT, and SM contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools; MB and EM wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Molouk Beiromvand.

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Mirrezaie, E., Beiromvand, M., Tavalla, M. et al. Molecular Genotyping of Giardia duodenalis in Humans in the Andimeshk County, Southwestern Iran. Acta Parasit. 64, 376–383 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-019-00051-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-019-00051-x

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