Investigation On Cryptosporidium Infections Of Cattle,Goats And Sheep In Part Areas Of Ningxia

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite that infects humans and many animals.It is the second leading cause of diarrhoea in children after rotavirus.Cryptosporidiosis is now considered an important disease,causing diarrhoea in neonatal ruminants worldwide,and clinical characteristics in animals range from asymptomatic infections to death.Cryptosporidiosis has caused great economic losses to farmers in part due to the lack of effective prophylactic or therapeutic treatment options for livestock.Ningxia is a big province of animal husbandry in China.However,the influences of Cryptosporidium in calves,goats and sheep are rarely reported in Ningxia.Therefore,the objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in calves,goats and sheep in partial areas of Ningxia in order to provide effective data for the prevention and control of Cryptosporidium infections in calves,goats and sheep.In order to know the infection situation of Cryptosporidium in cattle of Ningxia,600 bovine fecal samples were collected from 10 farms covering 10 districts or counties.All samples were tested by Cryptosporidium Ag Test Kit.The results showed that the total positive rate of Cryptosporidium spp.was 26.2%(157/600),of which 10.4% in dairy cattle,and 36.7% in beef cattle,with significant differences between dairy and beef cattle.There were different positive rates in different areas,in which the positive rates of dairy cattle were between 1.7% and 23.3%,and beef cattle were between 16.7% and 63.3%,which were all varied significantly.The positive rates of Cryptosporidium in different host ages were varied.Adult and post-weaned dairy cattle,and adult beef cattle had the higher positive rate.They were 11.3% and 41.7%,respectively.This is the first time using Cryptosporidium Ag Test Kit for antigen detection to investigate the infection of Cryptosporidium in cattle in 5 cities of Ningxia.The results offered a reference for understanding the prevalence situation and developing suitable prevention and control strategy of cryptosporidiosis in dairy and beef cattle in Ningxia.In order to know the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in sheep and goats,480 fecal samples were collected from two farms in Wuzhong city of Ningxia.DNA were extracted from all samples and amplified by nested-PCR targeting Cryptosporidium SSU rRNA gene,the positive samples were sequenced and analyzed.The results showed that the total infection rate was 28.3%,of which 33.8% in sheep from Yanchi county,and 22.9% in goats from Tongxin county.Three species were found,Cryptosporidium xiaoi was most prevalent species(62.5%),followed by C.ubiquitum(32.4%)and C.parvum(5.2%).The highest infection rate was found in spring(49.2%),and the lowest infection rate was detected in summer(6.7%).Pre-weaned sheep and goats had the highest infection rate(34.4%),while adult sheep and goats showed the lowest infection rate(19.4%).BLAST analysis demonstrated that these sequences had 100% identities with the reported corresponding sequences from GenBank.The results provided a deeply understanding of the prevalence of Cryptosporidium,and supplied epidemiological data for prevention and control Cryptosporidium infections in sheep and goats in Wuzhong city of Ningxia.