Surface Waters and Urban Brown Rats as Potential Sources of Human-Infective Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Vienna, Austria.

ABSTRACT: Cryptosporidium and Giardia are waterborne protozoa that cause intestinal infections in a wide range of warm-blooded animals. Human infections vary from asymptomatic to life-threatening in immunocompromised people, and can cause growth retardation in children. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence and diversity of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in urban surface water and in brown rats trapped in the center of Vienna, Austria, using molecular methods, and to subsequently identify their source and potential transmission pathways. Out of 15 water samples taken from a side arm of the River Danube, Cryptosporidium and Giardia (oo)cysts were detected in 60% and 73% of them, with concentrations ranging between 0.3-4 oocysts/L and 0.6-96 cysts/L,

SUBMITTER: Cervero-Arago S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8400309 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature