Ocorrência de Giardia spp. em bezerros leiteiros no Brasil
Guimarães, A.M.Guedes, E.Carvalho, R.A.
Fecal samples were collected from 50 female Holstein calves (1-90 days old) from a commercial dairy cattle farm located in Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil and examined for presence of Giardia cysts using the zinc sulfate flotation method. A total of 120 samples were collected from March 1999 to April 2000, and fecal consistency (normal or diarrheic) was noted prior to the examination for Giardia cysts. Giardia spp. cysts were found in 11 (9%) of the 120 faecal samples of calves co-infected with Eimeria spp., in calves from 19 to 58 days of age (38±19). In 82% (9/11) calves assessed for mixed infections with Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia, oocysts of Cryptosporidium were found in three out of four diarrheic calves (75%) positive for Giardia. Giardia cysts (n= 30) sized 13-16 x 10-12µm (mean of 15 x 11µm). They appeared to belong to the morphological group of G. intestinallis according to the size and morphological characteristic of the cysts. This is the first detection of Giardia spp. in calves in Brazil. Considering that Giardia has the potential to cause clinical disease in calves and that organisms infecting humans and domestic ruminants are morphologically and antigenically similar, and calves can shed Giardia cysts potentially infective for humans, the parasite in calves may be of major epidemiological significance, and suggests that naturally infected calves may be reservoirs of Giardia infections for man.
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