Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Cryptosporidium in Goats across Four Provincial Level Areas in China
et al. (2014) Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Cryptosporidium in Goats across Four Provincial Level
Areas in China. PLoS ONE 9(10): e111164. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111164
Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Cryptosporidium in Goats across Four Provincial Level Areas in China
Rongsheng Mi 0
Xiaojuan Wang 0
Yan Huang 0
Peng Zhou 0
Yuxuan Liu 0
Yongjun Chen 0
Jun Chen 0
Wei Zhu 0
Zhaoguo Chen 0
Yung-Fu Chang, Cornell University, United States of America
0 1 Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Animal-borne Food Safety Research Center of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences , Shanghai , China , 2 Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses , Yangzhou , China , 3 Lvxiang Town Agricultural Technology Extension Station of Jinshan District , Shanghai , China , 4 Tengzhou Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Technology Service Center , Tengzhou , China
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.
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Funding: This study was supported in part by National S & T Major Program of the Peoples 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.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Cryptosporidium is an intestinal protozoan parasite that
reportedly infects humans and animals worldwide [1]. In neonatal
ruminants, cryptosporidiosis is a leading cause of diarrhea and
mortality, and causes farmers significant economic loss [2].
Numerous molecular biological techniques have detected
Cryptosporidium species/genotype and subtypes and will improve our
understanding of cryptosporidiosis transmission in man and
animals [3].
The first Cryptosporidium infection in a goat was reported in
Australia [4] and has since then been reported worldwide [2]. Few
investigations report the molecular characterization of
Cryptosporidium species/genotypes in goats. Belgium [5], Egypt [6], France
[7], India [8], Italy [9], Norway [10], Spain [11], Sri Lanka [12],
the Czech Republic [13], and Zambia [14] have all found
Cryptosporidium parvum as the dominant species. Other species/
genotypes, such as C. hominis, C. xiaoi, C. ubiquitum, C.
andersoni, Cryptosporidium rat genotype and a novel
Cryptosporidium genotype were also described in goats [10,1522].
Goats are economic resources in China. According to the
National Bureau of Statistics, about 141.4 million goats were in
China at the end of 2012 (http://data.stats.gov.cn/workspace/
index?m=hgnd), but few studies exist identifying the molecular
epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis in goats. In one study, three
species (C. ubiquitum, C. andersoni, and C. xiaoi) were found in
Henan Province and one species (C. ubiquitum) was found in
Chongqing City [20]. In another report, C. xiaoi and a novel
Cryptosporidium genotype were found in goats in Qinghai
Province [17]. Given the sparse data on prevalence and
molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. in goats in
China, the present study aimed to supplement the genetic
characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. in partial provinces of
China, to investigate the subtypes of C. pa (...truncated)