Prevalence and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium in goats across four provincial level areas in China

PLoS One. 2014 Oct 24;9(10):e111164. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111164. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

This study assessed the prevalence, species and subtypes of Cryptosporidium in goats from Guangdong Province, Hubei Province, Shandong Province, and Shanghai City of China. Six hundred and four fecal samples were collected from twelve goat farms, and the overall infection rate was 11.4% (69/604). Goats infected with Cryptosporidium were found in eleven farms across four provincial areas, and the infection rate ranged from 2.9% (1/35) to 25.0% (9/36). Three Cryptosporidium species were identified. Cryptosporidium xiaoi (45/69, 65.2%) was the dominant species, followed by C. parvum (14/69, 20.3%) and C. ubiquitum (10/69, 14.5%). The infection rate of Cryptosporidium spp. was varied with host age and goat kids were more susceptible to be infected than adult goats. Subtyping C. parvum and C. ubiquitum positive samples revealed C. parvum subtype IIdA19G1 and C. ubiquitum subtype XIIa were the most common subtypes. Other C. parvum subtypes were detected as well, such as IIaA14G2R1, IIaA15G1R1, IIaA15G2R1 and IIaA17G2R1. All of these subtypes have also been detected in humans, suggesting goats may be a potential source of zoonotic cryptosporidiosis. This was the first report of C. parvum subtypes IIaA14G2R1, IIaA15G1R1 and IIaA17G2R1 infecting in goats and the first molecular identification of C. parvum and its subtypes in Chinese goats.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • China / epidemiology
  • Cryptosporidiosis / epidemiology*
  • Cryptosporidiosis / genetics*
  • Cryptosporidiosis / parasitology
  • Cryptosporidium / physiology*
  • Goat Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Goat Diseases / genetics*
  • Goat Diseases / parasitology
  • Goats / parasitology*
  • Humans
  • Phylogeny
  • Prevalence

Grants and funding

This study was supported in part by National S & T Major Program of the People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 2012ZX10004220), Opening Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology (Grant No. SKLVEB2013KFKT017), Shanghai Municipal Agriculture Commission (Grant No. 2005-3-4), Minhang District Human Resources and Social Security and Basic Foundation for Scientific Research of State-level Public Welfare Institutes of China (Grant No. 2013JB13). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.