title: Occurrence and cyst burden of Giardia duodenalis in dog faecal deposits from urban green areas: Implications for environmental contamination and related risks.
abstract: To investigate the prevalence and cyst burden of Giardia duodenalis as well as the genetic identity and possible zoonotic potential of isolates in canine faeces left on soil, a total of 143 freshly passed faecal specimens were collected in four different green urban areas and examined by Real-time PCR. Overall, 30.8% of faeces from different dogs that defecated in urban areas were found to harbour Giardia cysts, with single area positivity proportions ranging from 4.2% to 47.8%; significant (P<0.05) and highly significant (P<0.01) differences were found in the prevalence among different areas investigated. The number of cysts ranged from 2 to 1428 per gram of faeces. Results emphasize that a high risk of dog-to-dog Giardia transmission may occur in public areas where high quantities of faeces from infected dogs are daily left to cumulate on the ground. Results suggest there is a low risk for zoonotic transmission of Giardia: only 0.6% of canine faeces contaminating urban areas were carrying subgenotype A1, which is considered as the most potentially transmissible to humans.
authors: Dipartimento di Patologia Animale, Profilassi e Igiene degli Alimenti, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy. rpapini@vet.unipi.it
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Papini
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Marangi
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Mancianti
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Giangaspero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000635:transmission; D004285:Dogs; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D005872:Giardia / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D007558:Italy; D015995:Prevalence