Atypical outbreak of caprine cryptosporidiosis in the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

An outbreak of cryptosporidiosis occurred in goats ranging in age from two days to adult, on a well-managed closed farm. None of the other animals on the farm, including sheep, cows and buffalo, were affected. Morbidity approached 100 per cent in goats less than six months of age. Despite intensive supportive care, 238 goats died, ranging in age from two days to over one year. Cryptosporidia were detected in large numbers in the intestinal contents of dead animals and in faecal smears of animals with diarrhoea. Massive numbers of the organisms were also demonstrated histopathologically and by electronmicroscopy, and no other significant pathogens were detected. The outbreak was unique in terms of the extreme virulence of the organism, its apparent species-specificity, and the shedding of the organism by animals over four weeks of age.

Cryptosporidiosis caused by Cryptosporidium parvum subtype IIdA15G1 at a dairy farm in Northwestern China

“…In comparison with cryptosporidiosis outbreaks in humans, only a few outbreaks have been reported in animals, including goats in Brazil and Oman [44,45], foals in New Zealand [46], cockatiels in Japan [47], stone curlews in the United Arab Emirates [48], alpaca crias in the United States [49], chelonians in Australia [50], and rabbits in Poland [51]. The findings from our current study provide further information regarding cryptosporidiosis outbreaks among animal populations.…”

Relative importance of the various environmental sources of Cryptosporidium oocysts in three watersheds

“…Cryptosporidium parvum is the most widespread of the 15 species in the genus, infecting over 150 species of mammals (Fayer et al 2000). In a number of independent studies, Cryptosporidium has been confirmed in a number of agricultural animals such as cattle in the US (Garber et al 1994), Canada (Mann et al 1986) and the UK (Reynolds et al 1986); pigs, sheep (Xiao et al 1993); goats (Mason et al 1981;Johnson et al 1999;Delafosse et al 2003) and poultry (Current et al 1986). Oocyst shedding from farm animals has been estimated to last from 3 to 12 days with faecal concentrations that may exceed 10 10 oocysts per gram of manure (Casemore et al 1997).…”

Herd-level risk factors for Cryptosporidium infection in dairy-goat kids in western France

“…As demonstrated in natural conditions in calves, oocyst excretion mainly occurs beginning on day 3-6 postinfection, continuing for 6-9 days and usually persisting at a detectable but asymptomatic level until 1 month of age (Olson et al, 1997;Uga et al, 2000;Castro-Hermida et al, 2002). However, clinical cryptosporidiosis occasionally occurs in goats >4 week old (Johnson et al, 1999). Because no fully satisfactory chemoprophylaxis is available to control neonatal cryptosporidiosis (De Graaf et al, 1999), a better knowledge of the main risk factors of C. parvum infection in kids is needed to allow the implementation of preventive hygienic measures both reducing the environmental oocyst burden and preventing the transmission to neonates.…”