Genetic Diversity of Giardia intestinalis in New Zealand

This study aimed to build on the advances made in the understanding of the genetic diversity of Giardia by utilising amplicon-based metabarcoding to characterise the within-host diversity of Giardia in outbreaks that occurred in New Zealand. We hypothesise that epidemiologically linked cases share subtypes undetectable with consensus PCR and Sanger sequencing. The inability to detect shared genotypes between linked cases suggest that amplicon-based sequencing might provide better tools for painting a clearer picture of the role of protozoan genetic diversity in giardiasis outbreaks in New Zealand, which could lead to a better perception of protozoan outbreak epidemiology.