Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T00:20:30.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prevalence of Cryptosporidium species in intensively farmed pigs in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2007

A. ZINTL ,
D. NEVILLE ,
D. MAGUIRE ,
S. FANNING ,
G. MULCAHY ,
H. V. SMITH  and
T. DE WAAL
A. ZINTL*
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
D. NEVILLE
Affiliation:
School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
D. MAGUIRE
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
S. FANNING
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
G. MULCAHY
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
H. V. SMITH
Affiliation:
Scottish Parasite Diagnostic Laboratory, Stobhill Hospital, 133 Balornock Road, Glasgow G21 3UW, UK
T. DE WAAL
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
*
*Corresponding author: School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Tel: +353 1 716 6133. Fax: +353 1 716 6185. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Natural Cryptosporidium infections in pigs are widespread but generally apathogenic. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of zoonotic Cryptosporidium spp. in piggeries in Ireland, where the drinking water supply is particularly vulnerable to contamination with zoonotic species. Overall, infections were detected in 39 out of 342 animals (11·4%), with highest infection rates among weaners (15%) and sows (13·3%). Twenty-nine positive samples were genotyped based on SSU rRNA sequence analysis. Infections with Cryptosporidium parvum, the most important zoonotic species were rare and are likely to be of greater concern to animal handlers than suppliers of drinking water. In addition to C. parvum, Cryptosporidium suis, Cryptosporidium pig genotype II, Cryptosporidium muris and a previously undescribed genotype were identified. ABI-profiles indicated the presence of different alleles in at least 40% of all genotyped isolates. This was confirmed in 3 isolates by cloning of the PCR products. Since chronic mixed infections appear to be quite common in pigs they could be considered as models for mixed infections in immunocompromised humans.

Keywords

CryptosporidiumSus scrofamixed infectionsporcine genotypesSSU rRNA gene fragmentPCR-RFLPcloning
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 134 , Issue 11 , October 2007 , pp. 1575 - 1582
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Boom, R., Sol, C. J., Salimans, M. M., Jansen, C. L., Wertheim Van, P. M. and Van Der Noordaa, J. (1990). Rapid and simple method for purification of nucleic acids. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 28, 495–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caccio, S. M. (2005). Molecular epidemiology of human cryptosporidiosis. Parassitologia 47, 185–192.Google ScholarPubMed
Cama, V., Gilman, R. H., Vivar, A., Ticona, E., Ortega, Y., Bern, C. and Xiao, L. (2006). Mixed Cryptosporidium infections and HIV. Emerging Infectious Diseases 12, 1025–1028.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Current, W. L. (1990). Techniques and laboratory maintenance of Cryptosporidium. In Cryptosporidiosis in Man and Animals (ed. Dubey, J. P., Speer, C. A. and Fayer, R.), pp. 31–49. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.Google Scholar
De Graaf, D. C., Vanopdenbosch, E., Ortega-Mora, L. M., Abbassi, H. and Peeters, V. (1999). A review of the importance of cryptosporidiosis in farm animals. International Journal for Parasitology 29, 1269–1287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enemark, H. L., Bille-Hansen, V., Lind, P., Heegaard, P. M., Vigre, H., Ahrens, P. and Thamsborg, S. M. (2003). Pathogenicity of Cryptosporidium parvum – evaluation of an animal infection model. Veterinary Parasitology 113, 35–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gatei, W., Wamae, C. N., Mbae, C., Waruru, A., Mulinge, E., Waithera, T., Gatika, S. M., Kamwati, S. K., Revathi, G. and Hart, C. A. (2006). Cryptosporidiosis: prevalence, genotype analysis, and symptoms associated with infections in children in Kenya. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 75, 78–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graczyk, T. K., Lewis, E. J., Glass, G., Dasilva, A. J., Tamang, L., Girouard, A. S. and Curriero, F. C. (2007). Quantitative assessment of viable Cryptosporidium parvum load in commercial oysters (Crassostrea virginica) in the Chesapeake Bay. Parasitology Research 100, 247–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamnes, I. S., Gjerde, B. K., Forberg, T. and Robertson, L. J. (2006). Occurrence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in suckling piglets in Norway. Veterinary Parasitology 141, 30–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozlowski, M. B. (2006). Evaluation of on-farm control measures for the reduction of infection with Salmonella serotypes in finishing pigs. MVM thesis. School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin.Google Scholar
Kumar, S., Tamura, K. and Nei, M. (2004). MEGA3: Integrated software for molecular evolutionary genetics analysis and sequence alignment. Briefings in Bioinformatics 5, 150–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Langkjaer, R. B., Vigre, H., Enemark, H. L. and Maddox-Hyttel, C. (2007). Molecular and phylogenetic characterization of Cryptosporidium and Giardia from pigs and cattle in Denmark. Parasitology 134, 339–350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lawson, A. J., Linton, D., Stanley, J. and Owen, R. J. (1997). Polymerase chain reaction detection and speciation of Campylobacter upsaliensis and C. helveticus in human faeces and comparison with culture techniques. Journal of Applied Microbiology 83, 375–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lefay, D., Naciri, M., Poirier, P. and Chermette, R. (2001). Efficacy of halofuginone lactate in the prevention of cryptosporidiosis in suckling calves. Veterinary Record 148, 108–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLauchlin, J., Amar, C., Pedraza-Diaz, S. and Nichols, G. L. (2000). Molecular epidemiological analysis of Cryptosporidium spp. in the United Kingdom: results of genotyping Cryptosporidium spp. in 1,705 fecal samples from humans and 105 fecal samples from livestock animals. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 38, 3984–3990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLauchlin, J., Pedraza-Diaz, S., Amar-Hoetzeneder, C. and Nichols, G. L. (1999). Genetic characterization of Cryptosporidium strains from 218 patients with diarrhea diagnosed as having sporadic cryptosporidiosis. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 37, 3153–3158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munoz, M., Alvarez, M., Lanza, I. and Carmenes, P. (1996). Role of enteric pathogens in the aetiology of neonatal diarrhoea in lambs and goat kids in Spain. Epidemiology and Infection 117, 203–211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthusamy, D., Rao, S. S., Ramani, S., Monica, B., Banerjee, I., Abraham, O. C., Mathai, D. C., Primrose, B., Muliyil, J., Wanke, C. A., Ward, H. D. and Kang, G. (2006). Multilocus genotyping of Cryptosporidium sp. isolates from human immunodeficiency virus-infected individuals in South India. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 44, 632–634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olson, M. E., Thorlakson, C. L., Deselliers, L., Morck, D. W. and McAllister, T. A. (1997). Giardia and Cryptosporidium in Canadian farm animals. Veterinary Parasitology 68, 375–381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
OIE (Office International des Epizooties) (2004). Cryptosporidiosis. In Manual of Standards for Laboratory Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals. 5th Edn, pp. 1082–1100. Paris. [Online.] http://www.oie.int/eng/normes/en_mmanual.htm.Google Scholar
Quilez, J., Sanchez-Acedo, C., Clavel, A., Del Cacho, E. and Lopez-Bernad, F. (1996). Prevalence of Cryptosporidium infections in pigs in Aragon (northeastern Spain). Veterinary Parasitology 67, 83–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryan, U. M., Monis, P., Enemark, H. L., Sulaiman, I., Samarasinghe, B., Read, C., Buddle, R., Robertson, I., Zhou, L., Thompson, R. C. A. and Xiao, L. (2004). Cryptosporidium suis n. sp. (Apicomplexa: Cryptosporidiidae) in pigs (Sus scrofa). Journal of Parasitology 90, 769–773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, U. M., Samarasinghe, B., Read, C., Buddle, J. R., Robertson, I. D. and Thompson, R. C. (2003). Identification of a novel Cryptosporidium genotype in pigs. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69, 3970–3974.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanford, S. E. (1987). Enteric cryptosporidial infection in pigs: 184 cases (1981–1985). Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 190, 695–698.Google ScholarPubMed
Tacal, J. V. Jr., Sobieh, M. and El-Ahraf, A. (1987). Cryptosporidium in market pigs in southern California, USA. Veterinary Record 120, 615–616.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tanriverdi, S., Arslan, M. O., Akiyoshi, D. E., Tzipori, S. and Widmer, G. (2003). Identification of genotypically mixed Cryptosporidium parvum populations in humans and calves. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 130, 13–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tzipori, S., McCartney, E., Lawson, G. H. K., Rowland, A. C. and Campbell, I. (1981). Experimental infection of piglets with Cryptosporidium. Research in Veterinary Science 31, 358–368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vítovec, J., Hamadejova, K., Landova, L., Kvac, M., Kveton, D. and Sak, B. (2006). Prevalence and Pathogenicity of Cryptosporidium suis in pre- and post-weaned pigs. Journal of Veterinary Medicine. Series B 53, 239–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xiao, L., Moore, J. E., Ukoh, U., Gatei, W., Lowery, C. J., Murphy, T. M., Dooley, J. S., Millar, B. C., Rooney, P. J. and Rao, J. R. (2006). Prevalence and identity of Cryptosporidium spp. in pig slurry. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 72, 4461–4463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xiao, L., Bern, C., Arrowood, M., Sulaiman, I., Zhou, L., Kawai, V., Vivar, A., Lal, A. A. and Gilman, R. H. (2002). Identification of the cryptosporidium pig genotype in a human patient. Journal of Infectious Diseases 185, 1846–1848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiao, L., Morgan, U. M., Limor, J., Escalante, A., Arrowood, M., Shulaw, W., Thompson, R. C., Fayer, R. and Lal, A. A. (1999). Genetic diversity within Cryptosporidium parvum and related Cryptosporidium species. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65, 3386–3391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xiao, L., Herd, R. P. and Bowman, G. L. (1994). Prevalence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections on two Ohio pig farms with different management systems. Veterinary Parasitology 52, 331–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yu, J. R. and Seo, M. (2004). Infection status of pigs with Cryptosporidium parvum. Korean Journal of Parasitology 42, 45–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed