Multilocus genotyping of Giardia intestinalis in pet dogs of Medellín Colombia.

According to a few parasitological and epidemiological studies, Giardia is the most prevalent parasitic infection among pet dogs in the city of Medellín, the second-largest city in Colombia. This study determined the assemblages of Giardia in the fecal samples of dogs obtained from 18 veterinary centers of Medellín. One hundred fecal samples of dogs diagnosed with Giardia using microscopy were analyzed via nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using three genes (gdh, bg, and tpi). The PCR products were purified and sequenced, and phylogenetic analyses were conducted using the maximum likelihood algorithm of the three loci. From the 100 samples analyzed, 47 were Giardia-positive via PCR. Genotypes C and D were detected in six samples, neither of which were associated with human infection. However, the zoonotic potential of Giardia cannot be ruled out because of the small number of samples that could be sequenced for assemblage assignation.

Determinación del ensamblaje genético de aislados axénicos colombianos de Giardia intestinalis / Genetic assemblages of axenic Colombian cultures of Giardia intestinalis

Resumen Objetivo: Genotipificar muestras de Giardia aisladas de pacientes de tres regiones geográficas de Colombia. Materiales y métodos: Se examinaron 22 aislados de G. intestinalis, los primeros descritos cultivados axénicamente de origen colombiano por medio del análisis del polimorfismo de longitud de fragmentos de restricción (RFLP) del gen glutamato deshidrogenasa (gdh). Resultados y conclusión: El patrón del RFLP mostró que todos los aislados pertenecían al ensamblaje A, específicamente al AI; resultado confirmado por secuenciación. Con este estudio se pretende contribuir al conocimiento de los genotipos circulantes de Giardia intestinalis en Colombia.

Abstract Objective: To genotype samples of G. intestinalis isolated from patients of three Colombian regions. Materials and methods: 22 isolates of Giardia (all of them established as axenic cultures) were examined by analyzing restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the glutamate dehydrogenase gene (gdh). Results and conclusion: The RFLP patterns showed that all of the Giardia isolates belonged to the assembly A, specifically to AI. This result was confirmed by sequencing. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of circulating genotypes of Giardia intestinalis in Colombia.