The trichomonad species Tetratrichomonas buttreyi and Pentatrichomonas hominis have been reported in the bovine digestive tract in only a few studies, and the prevalence and pathogenicity of these two protists in cattle herds remain unknown. In this study, the prevalence of T. buttreyi and P. hominis in yellow cattle, dairy cattle, and water buffalo in Anhui Province, China, was determined with a PCR analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA genes. The overall infection rates for T. buttreyi and P. hominis were 8.1% and 5.4%, respectively. Double infections were found in 15 (1.6%) samples from four farms. The prevalence of P. hominis in cattle with abnormal feces was significantly higher than that in cattle with normal feces (χ2 = 13.0, p < 0.01), and the prevalence of T. buttreyi in the northern region of Anhui Province was also significantly higher than that in the mid region (χ2 = 16.6, p < 0.01). Minor allelic variations were detected in the T. buttreyi isolates from cattle in this study, as in other hosts in previous studies. Morphological observations, together with the PCR analysis, demonstrated that the trichomonads isolated in this study were P. hominis. The presence of T. buttreyi and P. hominis indicated that cattle are natural hosts of these two trichomonads and could be a potential source of P. hominis infections in humans and other animal hosts.
Keywords: Dairy cattle; Pentatrichomonas hominis; Prevalence; Tetratrichomonas buttreyi; Water buffalo; Yellow cattle.