Prevalence and Genotype Distribution of in Rabbits in Shandong Province, Eastern China.

is a zoonotic enteric parasite that can infect humans and a number of animal species including rabbits with a worldwide distribution. Infection with can cause serious public health problems and significant economic losses to animal husbandry. So accurate understanding of the prevalence and genotype distribution of in rabbits is necessary. In the present study, a total of 616 fecal samples were collected from rabbits in Shandong province, eastern China, and examined in prevalence and genotypes by nested PCR amplification of -giardin (bg), glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh), and triosephosphate isomerase (tpi) gene loci of . Sixty-nine (11.2%) of the examined rabbit fecal samples were positive. Of them, the prevalence of is 8.4% (41/490) in Rizhao city and 22.2% (28/126) in Weihai city. Breeds, region, and feeding modes were highly correlated with infection in rabbits. Moreover, three genotypes (assemblages A, B, and E) were identified in rabbits at three gene loci, and the assemblage E was the dominant genotype, while the assemblage A was reported in rabbits in China for the first time. It is noticeable that two rabbits were found to be infected with two different assemblages (assemblages A and E, assemblages B and E, respectively). These findings enrich the genotype distribution of in rabbits and provide baseline data for preventing and controlling infection in rabbits in eastern China.