The Age-Related Cryptosporidium Species Distribution in Asymptomatic Cattle from North-Western Spain

Abstract

An age-related distribution of Cryptosporidium species has been reported in cattle, with C. parvum being predominant in suckling calves, C. bovis and C. ryanae being predominant in post-weaned calves and C. andersoni being predominant in adults. However, variants to this pattern have recently been reported. Thus, fecal samples (n = 594) from asymptomatic cattle were collected in north-western Spain. Animals were classified as <1 month (G1), 1–2 months (G2), 2–12 months (G3), 12–24 months (G4) and >2 years (G5). Cryptosporidium detection and species identification were performed by SSU rRNA PCR. Individual Cryptosporidium prevalence was 16.7%; it significantly decreased with age. Cryptosporidium parvum was predominant in G1 and C. bovis was predominant in the rest of the age classes; C. bovis and C. ryanae were especially prevalent in G2 and G3. Cryptosporidium occultus was not found in suckling calves. Finally, C. andersoni and C. xiaoi were occasionally detected in G5. The presence of C. parvum in all age classes implies significant animal and public health concerns. The predominance of C. bovis in cattle older than 1 month supports the idea that the age-related pattern of Cryptosporidium species described in cattle is not fully consistent, and thus further studies are still needed to identify those factors determining the species distribution.

Cross-border investigations on the prevalence and transmission dynamics of Cryptosporidium species in dairy cattle farms in western mainland Europe

“…Subtype IIaA17G2R1 was only observed before in the Netherlands with also with a similar frequency to that observed in this study, though two studies conducted in France river and sea waters reported the presence of this subtype on fish [44,104,105]. Subtype IIaA16G3R1 has been found in cattle in several European countries, such as Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the United Kingdom [20,51,54,55,102,106]. Subtype IIaA17G2R1 has been found in cattle in Slovakia, Poland, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom [20,55,94,102,106,107].…”

“…In western mainland Europe, the IIaA15G2R1 subtype was previously described as the most prevalent in cattle [36,37,40,[42][43][44]. Similar observations were reported in other European countries, including Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom [20,51,52,54,55,57,66,67,88] and in other parts of the world such as Japan and Uruguay [89,90].…”

“…In nearby European countries, such as Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, and Italy prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in beef and dairy calves assessed using molecular, immunological or microscopy screening, varied between 16.7% to 100% [51,54,55,57,58]. This data seems to correlate with equivalent findings worldwide where livestock parasite infections appear to lessen with the increase in age of cattle [19,27,[59][60][61][62][63][64][65].…”

“…xiaoi due to inability of distinguishing the two at the 18S rDNA gene level [79,82]. Previous cattle infections with C. xiaoi were either attributed to cross-infections between livestock sharing the same grazing fields or due to contact with contaminated water [51,80]. To our knowledge, none of the farms included in this project had any association with other (small ruminants), thus the source of C. xiaoi remains unresolved.…”

Cross-Border Investigations on the Prevalence and Transmission Dynamics of Cryptosporidium Species in Dairy Cattle Farms in Western Mainland Europe

“…Similar prevalence studies in Europe, employing nested PCR targeting the 18S gene, documented less overall occurrence of Cryptosporidium spp. with 44.5% in Spanish dairy and beef farms, 62.3% in dairy farms of Estonia [50,51] and, in the Czech Republic, 79.2% in calves and 30.4% in cows [52,53]. In Germany and Italy, following microscopy methods for Cryptosporidium spp.…”