Prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in domestic and companion animals in the northern part of Japan
2001
Izumiyama, S. (Ikeda Scientific Co. Ltd., Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan). Tsukuba Technical Center) | Nakai, Y. | Itagaki, T. | Ono, T. | Ootsuka, T. | Kuroki, T. | Yagita, K. | Endo, T.
We surveyed a variety of domestic animals for Cryptospridium infection in the northern part of Japan from December 1997 to March 1998. Fecal specimens were collected from cattle, pigs, dogs and cats in different localities. Cryptospridium oocysts were isolated from the fecal specimens by the sucrose-gradient centrifugation method and examined under a fluorescence microscope after stained with FITC-labeled monoclonal antibody specific for Cryptospridium oocysts and then the oocysts were identified by the morphological features observed under a differential interference contrast microscope. Seven of 31 herds (23%) surveyed were contaminated with C. parvum and 41 of 205 cattle (20%) were infected with the species of parasite. Interestingly, among calves younger than 1 month of age, about 54% were infected, whereas only a limited number (12%) of calves older than 1 month shed the oocysts. This demonstrates that C. parvum is predominantly a parasite of neonate animals. Identification of the farms contaminated with Cryptospridium and removal of the animals shedding oocysts could yield a direct measure to prevent dissemination of this parasite into human population. Companion animals have also been considered to be important sources of Cryptosporidium infection to humans. In the present experiment Cryptospridium oocysts were detected in 1 of 221 dogs (0.8%) and in 2 of 37 cats (5.4%). PCR-RFLP technique, a useful tool for epidemiological studies, using primers originally developed by CARRAWAY et al. (1997) was additionally applied for the genotyping of 5 isolates from different cattle herds, and demonstrated that these 5 isolates were all typed as Genotype 2 1).
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