OTHER FLAGELLATES 



121 



GIARDIA CATI 

 DESCfflENS, 1925 



Synonym s : Giardia felis . 



Host : Cat. 



Location : Small intestine, large in- 

 testine. Hitchcock and Malewitz (1956) 

 noted G. cati trophozoites thruout the 

 small intestine, cecum and colon (except 

 at the pyloric valve) of a naturally infected 

 64-day-old kitten in Michigan. They were 

 most numerous in the lower part of the 

 small intestine. 



Geographic Distribution : North 

 America (United States), Europe (France). 



Prevalence : Hitchcock (1953) found 

 Giardia in 8 of 14 kittens in Michigan. 



Morphology : It is quite likely that 

 this species is a synonym of G. canis. 

 The trophozoites are 10 to 18 jj, long and 5 

 to 9 jLi wide with a mean of 13 by 7 ji . The 

 median bodies are bars of the duodenalis 

 type. The cysts are 10. S/jL long and 7/1 

 wide. 



Pathogenesis : Unknown. The in- 

 fected cats studied by Hitchcock (1953) and 

 Hitchcock and Malewitz (1956) apparently 

 had no signs of enteritis. 



GIARDIA BOVIS 

 FANTHAM, 1921 



Host: Ox. 



Location: Duodenum, jejunum, ileum. 



Geographic Distribution : North 

 America (United States), Europe (England, 

 Holland, Austria, Italy), South Africa. 



Prevalence : Unknown. Becker and 

 Frye (1927) found this species in the feces 

 of cattle in Iowa, Nieschulz (1923) saw it 

 in a calf in Holland, Graham (1935) found 

 it alive and active in the digestive tract of 

 6 of 21 female Cooperia oncophora from a 

 calf from New Jersey, and we have found 

 it from time to time in casual examinations 

 in Illinois. 



Morphology : The trophozoites are 

 11 to 19 jn long and 7 to lOfi wide. The 

 median bodies are curved bars of the duo- 

 denalis type. The cysts are 7 to 16fj. long 

 and 4 to lOfi wide. 



Pathogenesis : The pathogenicity of 

 G. bovis is unknown. Supperer (1952) 

 found it in a calf in Austria with a mucous 

 diarrhea. The calf was killed for necropsy 

 diagnosis and was found to have catarrhal 

 duodenitis and jejunitis; the mucosa was 

 dark red, thickened and lay in folds. Botti 

 (1956, 1956a) found it in calves with hem- 

 orrhagic diarrhea in Italy. On the other 

 hand, the cattle in which we saw the or- 

 ganism in Illinois did not appear to be 

 affected by it. 



OTHER SPECIES OF GIARDIA 



Giardia caprae Nieschulz, 1923 (syn. , 

 G. ovis) was reported from the anterior 

 part of the small intestine of 2 goats in 

 Holland. Nieschulz (1924) described it 

 further. Its trophozoites are 9 to 17 /i long 

 and 6 to 9jj, wide with a mean of 13. 5 by 

 7. 5/i. The median bodies are curved bars 

 of the duodenalis type. The cysts have 4 

 nuclei and measure 12 to 15 by 7 to 9/1 

 with a mean of 14 by 8 /j, . 



Giardia caprae was found by Grassi 

 (1881) in sheep in Italy and by Turner and 

 Murnane (1932) in the small intestine of 

 sheep in Australia. The Australian sheep 

 had been losing weight gradually for sev- 

 eral months. Deas (1959) found it in a 

 lamb with enteritis in England. D. A. 

 Willigan (unpubl. ) found Giardia in 3 of 24 

 iambs brought to the University of Illinois 

 Veterinary Diagnostic Service. All came 

 from a single flock in which many of the 

 lambs were suffering from diarrhea and 

 loss of weight, but coccidiosis and sal- 

 monellosis were also found. Dissanaike 

 (1954) found live and active G. caprae in 

 the intestines of 50 female and no male 

 Nematodirus filicollis from 5 sheep in 

 England. 



Giardia equi Fantham, 1921 was or- 

 iginally found in the large intestine of a 

 horse in South Africa. Varela and Sal- 

 samendi (1958) found it in the feces of a 



