Sensitive Detection of Giardia Cysts by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

Giardia is one of the most common human parasites and causes a lengthly course of nonbacterial diarrhea. Disease outbreaks due to Giardia infection are often attributed to contaminated water supplies. A major problem associated with detection for this organism is the lack of sensitive and reliable methods. PCR has the potential to address many of the limitations.We have performed a PCR based method for sensitive detection of Giardia cysts. Because the sensitivity of PCR is a function of the efficiency of DNA extraction from cysts, we have also compared some different methods for DNA extraction from the cysts. Giardia cysts were collected from infected human, partially purified and serially diluted samples were prepared. DNA was extracted by 3 different methods and we found that simple repeated freezing and thawing was the best method for extraction of DNA from the cysts. A 163 bp conserved fragment related to the giardial heat shock protein (HSP70) gene was used as the target for PCR amplification. We were able to detect as few as 5 cysts in the samples. The results suggest the potential utilities of PCR for sensitive detection of Giardia in water sources.