Genotype analysis of Cryptosporidium spp. Prevalent in a rural village in Hwasun-gun, Republic of Korea

초록

Two species of Cryptosporidiumare known to infect man; C. hominis which shows anthroponotic trans-mission between humans, and C. parvumwhich shows zoonotic transmission between animals or between animalsand man. In this study, we focused on identifying genotypes of Cryptosporidiumprevalent among inhabitants anddomestic animals (cattle and goats), to elucidate transmittal routes in a known endemic area in Hwasun-gun,Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea. The existence of Cryptosporidiumoocysts was confirmed using a modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain. Human infections were found in 7 (25.9%) of 27 people examined. Cattle cryptosporidiosis cases con-formed on the small subunit of the rRNA gene using both PCR-RFLP and sequence analysis. Most of the human iso-lates were mixtures of C. hominisand C. parvumgenotypes and similar PCR-RFLP patterns were observed in cattleand goat isolates. However, sequence analyses identified only C. hominisin all isolates examined. The natural infec-tion of cattle and goats with C. hominiscryptosporidiosis in the studied area is caused by mixtures of C. hominisand C. parvumoocysts originating from bothinhabitants and domestic animals.

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