Cryptosporidium outbreak in calves on a large dairy farm: Effect of treatment and the association with the inflammatory response and short-term weight gain

Abstract

Cryptosporidium spp. infections in neonatal dairy calves can cause diarrhoea and, in rare cases, death. The infection is usually self-limiting, but halofuginone lactate (HL) can be used prophylactically. Calves (n=144) in the study were born during a 2-month period on one farm. A total of 901 serum and 767 faecal samples were collected. Based on HL treatment, the calves were divided into 3 groups: I) not treated, II) treated incorrectly (treatment started >48h after birth, or lasted <7days), and III) treated correctly (started <48h after birth, and lasted ≥7days). Over the 3-month observation period, 14.6% (n=21) of the calves died, of which most (67%) had not been treated with HL. Correctly performed treatment of cryptosporidiosis significantly delayed the onset of oocysts shedding (P<0.001) and reduced haptoglobin (HP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations in the second week of life. HP concentration and HL treatment were negatively associated with weight gain at 3months of age. Cryptosporidium positive faecal samples were significantly (P<0.001) more likely to be diarrhoeic but Giardia or Eimeria positive samples were not. Correct prophylactic treatment with HL delayed the shedding of Cryptosporidium oocysts and improved survival, but was negatively associated with weight gain. Incorrect treatment had a low impact on mortality and resembled no treatment regarding the proportion of calves shedding oocysts. Acute phase response (APR) in the second week of life seemed to be positively associated with shedding high amounts of Cryptosporidium oocysts.

Long-term use of yeast fermentation products in comparison to halofuginone for the control of cryptosporidiosis in neonatal calves

“…Therefore, Cryptosporidium was considered to be the main enteropathogen and responsible for the episodes of diarrhea in the present study. In untreated calves Cryptosporidium oocyst shedding started 9.9 days after birth on average, which is in accordance with previous field observations (e.g., Castro-Hermida et al, 2002;Niine et al, 2018;Urie et al, 2018a). It is also similar to data from experimental infections (Zambriski et al, 2013) showing that the study calves became infected shortly after birth.…”

“…Finally, the intensity of the Cryptosporidium infection (estimated by AUC values of oocyst shedding or coproantigen scores) was significantly reduced in the HALO group in comparison with CON but not with SCFP. All in all, these results indicate some but not fully prophylactic anticryptosporidial effect of HALO, as already observed in previous studies (e.g., Silverlås et al, 2009;Trotz-Williams et al, 2011;Delafosse et al, 2015;Niine et al, 2018).…”

“…Cryptosporidium infections are very common and endemic in many cattle farms worldwide, especially in large dairy enterprises (Joachim et al, 2003;Trotz-Williams et al, 2007;Al Mawly et al, 2015;Delafosse et al, 2015;Niine et al, 2018;Urie et al, 2018a, b). C. parvum is one of the four main causes of diarrhea in calves within the first 3 weeks of life (Gillhuber et al, 2014;Al Mawly et al, 2015;Anonymous, 2017).…”

“…and other coccidian parasites in animals (Stockdale et al, 2008;Shahiduzzaman and Daugschies, 2012), possibly because of their gregarine character. There are two compounds used in the field that were found to have an anticryptosporidial effect in calves after oral administration for several days (treatment starting from the first day of life): halofuginone (Silverlås et al, 2009;De Waele et al, 2010;Trotz-Williams et al, 2011;Almawly et al, 2013;Niine et al, 2018) and paromomycin (Fayer and Ellis, 1993;Grinberg et al, 2002). Halofuginone is the only drug approved against Cryptosporidium for use in neonatal calves by the authorities in Europe (Anonymous, 2000).…”

“…However, in a meta-analysis of results from 14 respective studies, it was concluded that "some beneficial effects were found for the use of halofuginone as prophylactic treatment against cryptosporidiosis, but the substance is toxic and should be used only with severe C. parvum-associated diarrhoeal problems" (Silverlås et al, 2009). In recent studies halofuginone given prophylactically resulted in reduced oocyst shedding, but did not improve clinical symptoms or bodyweight gain of calves as compared to untreated controls (Trotz-Williams et al, 2011;Almawly et al, 2013), or was even negatively associated with the weight gain (Niine et al, 2018).…”