Prevalence of Tetratrichomonas buttreyi and Pentatrichomonas hominis in yellow cattle, dairy cattle, and water buffalo in China

The trichomonad species Tetratrichomonas buttreyi and Pentatrichomonas hominis have been reported in the bovine digestive tract in only a few studies, and the prevalence and pathogenicity of these two protists in cattle herds remain unknown. In this study, the prevalence of T . buttreyi and P . hominis in yellow cattle, dairy cattle, and water buffalo in Anhui Province, China, was determined with a PCR analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA genes. The overall infection rates for T . buttreyi and P . hominis were 8.1% and 5.4%, respectively. Double infections were found in 15 (1.6%) samples from four farms. The prevalence of P . hominis in cattle with abnormal feces was significantly higher than that in cattle with normal feces ( χ 2 = 13.0, p