{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,5]],"date-time":"2026-06-05T05:13:27Z","timestamp":1780636407514,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"21","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,31]],"date-time":"2023-10-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1698710400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis are enteric protozoan pathogens in humans. and animals. Companion animals infected with zoonotic species\/assemblages are a matter of major public concern around the world. The objectives of the present study were to determine the prevalences of Cryptosporidium spp. and G. duodenalis infections and their co-infection statuses in dogs and cats living in Taiwan and to identify the species and assemblages. Fecal samples were collected from local animal shelters (n = 285) and a veterinary hospital (n = 108). Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using the SSU-rRNA, \u03b2-giardin, and glutamate dehydrogenase genes for Cryptosporidium spp. and G. duodenalis, respectively. Results showed that the overall prevalences of Cryptosporidium and G. duodenalis were 7.38% (29\/393) and 10.69% (42\/393). In addition, co-infection was detected in 1.02% (4\/393) of all samples. Sample source, clinical sign, and breed may be risk factors that influence the infection rate. In Cryptosporidium-positive samples, C. canis and C. felis were detected most frequently. Although the canine-specific assemblages C and D (37\/42) were dominant, the zoonotic human-specific assemblage A (1\/42) was also found in Giardia-positive samples. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that most positive samples belonged to host-specific subtypes\/assemblages, while some Cryptosporidium or Giardia-positive samples could be zoonotic. The findings suggested that pet animals could be a cause of zoonotic transmission, causing human cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in Taiwan.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani13213373","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,31]],"date-time":"2023-10-31T12:48:31Z","timestamp":1698756511000},"page":"3373","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["An Epidemiological Assessment of Cryptosporidium and Giardia spp. Infection in Pet Animals from Taiwan"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-1147-6359","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chia-Hui","family":"Hsu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chi","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shi-Chien","family":"Chi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kuan-Ju","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4983-2786","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chung-Hsi","family":"Chou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2254-8344","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chen-Si","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8259-1454","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wen-Yuan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"916","DOI":"10.1016\/S2221-1691(13)60179-3","article-title":"Cryptosporidiosis as threatening health problem: A review","volume":"3","author":"Rossle","year":"2013","journal-title":"Asian Pac. 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