Biological and genetic characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia duodenalis isolates from five hydrographical basins in northern Portugal.

To understand the situation of water contamination with Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. in the northern region of Portugal, we have established a long-term program aimed at pinpointing the sources of surface water and environmental contamination, working with the water-supply industry.

Selection of polymorphic peptides from GRA6 and GRA7 sequences of Toxoplasma gondii strains to be used in serotyping.

The evaluation of Toxoplasma gondii isolates obtained from geographical environments other than Europe and North America revealed the existence of atypical strains that are not included in the three archetypal clonal lineages (lineages I, II, and III). GRA6 and GRA7 are polymorphic genes that have been used for the genotyping of Toxoplasma. The coding regions of GRA6 and GRA7 from 49 nonarchetypal strains were sequenced and compared with the sequences of type I, II, and III reference strains.

Biologic and molecular characterization of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from pigs from Portugal.

Little is known of Toxoplasma gondii infections in animals in Portugal. In the present paper, we report the first isolation of viable T. gondii from pigs in Portugal.