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Genotypic analysis of Giardia duodenalis in children at Egypt

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Abstract

Giardia duodenalis is among the most common and frequent intestinal protozoan infecting Egyptian children. The present study aims to identify the genotypic features of G. duodenalis among children fecal samples complaining of diarrhea at Beni-Suef Governorate, Egypt, and to study the association between Giardia assemblages and clinical presentation of the disease among this category. One hundred thirty diarrheic stool samples were subjected to direct stool examination, and positive samples for Giardia were subjected to copro-DNA extraction and amplification targeting the triose phosphate isomerase (tpi) gene using nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) technique. Then amplified DNA products were purified and sequenced. Out of 36 microscopically positive samples for Giardia, 28 samples were successfully purified and sequenced; subassemblages AII, BIII, and BIV were detected (10.7, 14,3, and 17,8 %, respectively), and it was difficult to subgroup 16 samples that belong to assemblage B (57 %). Children below the age of 6 are significantly 16 times at risk of infection with assemblage B than assemblage A (p value = .001). Flatulence and presence of fat particles on microscopic examination were significantly associated with infection (p value = 0.001, 0.027, respectively). However, assemblage B was associated with variations of symptomology than A. The present study focuses on giardiasis among Beni-Suef community. Infection is due to both assemblages: assemblage B is more prevalent (89.3 %) than A (10.7 %) and assemblage AI was not recorded. More studies are needed to identify source of infection.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Scientific Research Developing Unit, Beni-Suef University for granting and funding the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni Suef, 62511, Egypt

    Marwa Ahmed Ghieth, Enas Y. Abu-Sarea & Samah S. Abdel Gawad

  2. Department of Medical Parasitology, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Ayman A. El-Badry

  3. Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Kasr Al-Ainy, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Marwa M. Elsharkawy

Authors
  1. Marwa Ahmed Ghieth
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  2. Ayman A. El-Badry
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  3. Enas Y. Abu-Sarea
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  4. Samah S. Abdel Gawad
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  5. Marwa M. Elsharkawy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marwa Ahmed Ghieth.

Ethics declarations

The research protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Scientific Research Developing Unit, Beni-Suef University and comes in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

It was obtained from all parents of children included in the study, and they were informed about purpose of the study and sample collection (stool samples) was obtained after their agreement.

Funding

The research was funded and granted by the Scientific Research Developing Unit, Beni-Suef University, which was given to the first author (Ghieth M. A).

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Ghieth, M.A., El-Badry, A.A., Abu-Sarea, E.Y. et al. Genotypic analysis of Giardia duodenalis in children at Egypt. Comp Clin Pathol 25, 1241–1246 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-016-2337-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-016-2337-7

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