Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium parvum infections in adult goats and their implications for neonatal kids

Abstract

During the kidding season between January and April 2003, 10 farms were selected and divided into two groups of five. The farms in group A had had serious diarrhoeal illness and losses in neonatal kids the previous year, and there were Cryptosporidium parvum infections in kids associated with diarrhoea during the survey. On the farms in group B, there was no history of diarrhoeal disease the previous year and neither C parvum oocysts nor diarrhoea were detected in neonatal kids during the survey. Faecal samples were collected once from 10 adult goats aged between one and seven years on each farm. To assess more accurately the pattern of output of oocysts of C parvum and cysts of Giardia duodenalis by periparturient adult goats, one farm was selected from each group, faecal samples were collected weekly before and after kidding from 12 goats on the farm in group A and from 10 goats on the farm in group B. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of G duodenalis cysts between the group A farms (14 per cent) and the group B farms (12 per cent), and the numbers of cysts excreted ranged from 143 to 400 cysts per gram of faeces (cpg) on the group A farms and 72 to 334 cpg on the group B farms. There was a significant difference (P=0.03) in the prevalence of C parvum oocysts at the group level between the group A farms (20 per cent) and the group B farms (6 per cent). All the adult goats excreted cysts and oocysts at some date around the kidding period; the number of animals excreting cysts of G duodenalis or oocysts of C parvum increased when they gave birth, and seven to 10 times more cysts and oocysts were shed in the three weeks around kidding than in the period more than three weeks from kidding (P<0.001).

Oocyst excretion pattern of three intestinal Eimeria species in female rabbits

“…oocyst faecal count was also observed previously in other mammalian species (Faber et al, 2002;Taylor et al, 2007;Bruhn et al, 2011;Turner et al, 2012). Moreover, the periparturient increase in the emission of (oo)cysts was also reported for other intestinal protozoa, such as Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia duodenalis in infected sheep and goats (Xiao et al, 1994;Ortega-Mora et al, 1999;Castro-Hermida et al, 2005). In wild rabbits, the periparturient increase in the emission of Trichostrongylus retortaeformis eggs was evidenced (Hobbs et al, 1999).…”

Climate and On-Farm Risk Factors Associated with Giardia duodenalis Cysts in Storm Runoff from California Coastal Dairies

“…Differences in percentages of grass cover (8,29) and residual dry vegetative matter (28) were significantly associated with numbers of C. parvum oocysts in runoff. The observation in this study that runoff from sites housing periparturient cattle contained the lowest levels of waterborne cysts may not be the result of reduced fecal shedding of this parasite in this group of cattle, as has been observed in previous research on livestock fecal shedding of G. duodenalis cysts (6,22,32), but may instead result from the typically large amounts of straw placed on top of the calving pen for hygienic reasons. Furthermore, while the mean velocities of runoff were similar (10.6 to 13 liters/s) for sites housing calves and lactating and dry cows (Fig.…”

Zoonotic Potential and Molecular Epidemiology ofGiardiaSpecies and Giardiasis

“…The infection rates were 25.5% in Belgium (95) (189,226,298). In goats, the infection rates were 35.8% in Belgium (95), 13.0 to 42.2% in Spain (48,50,225), and 12.3% in Uganda (137).…”

“…Giardia infections are common in pigs (20,108), cattle (296), sheep (298), goats (34,50), elks and deer (201), and other ruminants (191).…”