Coprologic and molecular prevalence of Giardia duodenalis from children in Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia.

Giardia infection in children has been recognized as a significant cause of diarrhea in school children around the world. The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence and genotypes of Giardia duodenalis in school children in Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia. Fecal samples from 200 children with ages ranging from 9 to 12 years (106 boys and 94 girls) were examined for the presence of Giardia cysts using direct microscopy and ELISA. DNA was extracted from fecal samples and subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers which amplified the partial 18S rRNA locus. Direct microscopy revealed that 9 (4.5%) were positive for Giardia cysts. ELISA and PCR revealed 20 (10%) and 44 (22%) of the samples were positive respectively. Assemblage A was detected through genotyping of Giardia duodenalis isolates prevalent in Tabuk City through sequencing the fragment obtained as a result of amplifying partial 18S rRNA locus.