Molecular characterization of Giardia intestinalis assemblages in children among the rural and urban population of Pondicherry, India

Introduction: Giardiasis is one of the greatest public parasitic infections causing diarrheal and also known to be associated with high morbidity and mortality, among the children's particularly in developing countries with less cleanliness practices. Thus, studying genomic variety of Giardia intestinalis aids to improve our perspective related to the variability in the genome of the parasite. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1006 stool samples were collected from the rural (n = 500) and urban settings (n = 506) from the children (