The Host Specificity of Giardia from Laboratory Strains of Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus

For many years the host of Giardia spp. has been a controversial subject. initial concept was that of very host as defined by Hegner (1926b). He wrote of the rigid host specificity and stated, The giardias of each species of host differ specifically from those found in every other species. However, he later reported, in other work, that Giardia canis cysts were capable of excysting in the guinea pig intestine (1926a), and cysts from human feces excysted in the rat intestine (1927). He also reported G. lamblia and G. muris capable of excysting in young chickens (1929). At a later date Armaghan (1937) utilized G. lamblia in crossinfection studies and she reported infecting 4 of 81 laboratory rats with G. lamblia. are other papers dealing with the host of Giardia, some favoring and some opposing this concept. Filice (1952), after reviewing the literature on this subject, states: There is no doubt that the Giardia