In 1681, Antoine van Leeuwenhoek, the inventor of the microscope, first discovered Giardia lamblia in his own stool.1 Initially, G. lamblia was considered to be of doubtful pathogenicity.2
Lambl rediscovered the parasite in the stool of pediatric patients in Prague in 1859 wherein Lambl published a full description of the trophozoite along with line drawings.1
The pathogenicity of Giardia was clearly described by Fantham and Porter in 1915 when returning war veterans contracted the disease and the human stool isolates produced diarrhea in kittens.3 In 1954, Rendtorff established that cysts could be transmitted by water source by feeding prisoners Giardia cysts from asymptomatic human donors.4
Increased awareness and appreciation of the parasite's clinical significance gave rise in the early 1970's when a high percentage of visitors from the Soviet Union returned with symptomatic giardiasis.5
Giardiasis is now recognized as a disease of travelers worldwide, with the highest prevalence in the developing world.6
- Mank TG, Diagnostic advantages and therapeutic options for giardiasis. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2001 Aug;10(8):1513-9.
- Wolfe MS. Giardiasis. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1992 Jan;5(1):93-100.
- Fanthan HB, Parter A. The pathogenicity of Giardia lamblia to men and experimental animals. BMJ. 1916; 2:139-141.
- Rendtorff RC. The experimental transmission of human intestinal protozoan parasites. II. Giardia lamblia cysts given in capsules. Am J Hyg. 1954 Mar;59(2):209-20.
- Brodsky RE, Spencer HC Jr, Schultz MG. Giardiasis in American travelers to the Soviet Union. J Infect Dis. 1974 Sep;130(3):319-23.
- Wolfe MS. Giardiasis. N Engl J Med. 1978 Feb 9;298(6):319-21.
