Molecular characteristics and zoonotic potential of enteric protists in domestic dogs and cats in Egypt

Ehab Kotb Elmahallawy; Ahmed Gareh; Akram Abu-Okail; Pamela C Köster; Alejandro Dashti; Jamal Asseri; Asmaa Aboelabbas Gouda; Murad A Mubaraki; Sara Abdel-Aal Mohamed; Yasser M Mohamed; Ehssan Ahmed Hassan; Mohamed Elgendy; Carolina Hernández-Castro; Begoña Bailo; David González-Barrio; Lihua Xiao; David Carmena

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1229151

Molecular characteristics and zoonotic potential of enteric protists in domestic dogs and cats in Egypt

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jul 6:10:1229151. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1229151. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ehab Kotb Elmahallawy^{1

2}, Ahmed Gareh³, Akram Abu-Okail⁴, Pamela C Köster⁵, Alejandro Dashti⁵, Jamal Asseri⁶, Asmaa Aboelabbas Gouda⁷, Murad A Mubaraki⁸, Sara Abdel-Aal Mohamed⁹, Yasser M Mohamed¹⁰, Ehssan Ahmed Hassan^{11

12}, Mohamed Elgendy¹³, Carolina Hernández-Castro^{5

14}, Begoña Bailo⁵, David González-Barrio⁵, Lihua Xiao¹⁵, David Carmena^{4

16}

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Grupo de Investigación en Sanidad Animal y Zoonosis (GISAZ), Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain.
² Department of Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt.
³ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Parasitology Reference and Research Laboratory, National Centre for Microbiology, Majadahonda, Spain.
⁶ Department of Biology, College of Science and Humanities, Shaqra University, Dawadmi, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
⁸ Clinical Laboratory Sciences Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
¹⁰ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
¹¹ Department of Biology, College of Science and Humanities in Al-kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.
¹² Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, El-Sheikh Zayed, Ismailia, Egypt.
¹³ Department of Surgery, Anesthesiology and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt.
¹⁴ Parasitology Group, Faculty of Medicine, Academic Corporation for the Study of Tropical Pathologies, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia.
¹⁵ College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
¹⁶ Center for Biomedical Research in Infectious Diseases, Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain.

Abstract

Introduction: Domestic dogs and cats can be a source of human infection by a wide diversity of zoonotic pathogens including parasites. Genotyping and subtyping tools are useful in assessing the true public health relevance of canine and feline infections by these pathogens. This study investigated the occurrence, genetic diversity, and zoonotic potential of common diarrhea-causing enteric protist parasites in household dogs and cats in Egypt, a country where this information is particularly scarce.

Methods: In this prospective, cross-sectional study a total of 352 individual fecal samples were collected from dogs (n = 218) and cats (n = 134) in three Egyptian governorates (Dakahlia, Gharbeya, and Giza) during July-December 2021. Detection and identification of Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis, Enterocytozoon bieneusi, and Blastocystis sp. were carried out by PCR and Sanger sequencing. Basic epidemiological variables (geographical origin, sex, age, and breed) were examined for association with occurrence of infection by enteric protists.

Results and discussion: The overall prevalence rates of Cryptosporidium spp. and G. duodenalis were 1.8% (95% CI: 0.5-4.6) and 38.5% (95% CI: 32.0-45.3), respectively, in dogs, and 6.0% (95% CI: 2.6-11.4) and 32.1% (95% CI: 24.3-40.7), respectively, in cats. All canine and feline fecal samples analyzed tested negative for E. bieneusi and Blastocystis sp. Dogs from Giza governorate and cats from Dakahlia governorate were at higher risk of infection by Cryptosporidium spp. (p = 0.0006) and G. duodenalis (p = 0.00001), respectively. Sequence analyses identified host-adapted Cryptosporidium canis (n = 4, one of them belonging to novel subtype XXe2) and G. duodenalis assemblages C (n = 1) and D (n = 3) in dogs. In cats the zoonotic C. parvum (n = 5) was more prevalent than host-adapted C. felis (n = 1). Household dogs had a limited (but not negligible) role as source of human giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis, but the unexpected high frequency of zoonotic C. parvum in domestic cats might be a public health concern. This is the first molecular-based description of Cryptosporidium spp. infections in cats in the African continent to date. Molecular epidemiological data provided here can assist health authorities and policy makers in designing and implementing effective campaigns to minimize the transmission of enteric protists in Egypt.

Keywords: 60 kDa glycoprotein; enteric parasites; epidemiology; genotyping; small subunit ribosomal RNA gene; zoonoses.