Molecular epidemiology of Cryptosporidium species in livestock in Ireland

• We investigated the monthly prevalence of Cryptosporidium in farm animals during March–June over two years in the east and west of Ireland.
• A database of Cryptosporidium spp. that occur in horse, sheep and cattle in the two region of the country was compiled.
• The diversity of potentially zoonotic subtypes among the C. parvum isolates was assessed by sequence analysis of the GP60 locus.

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan that can cause gastro-intestinal illness with diarrhoea in a wide range of hosts. In fact some species of Cryptosporidium can infect the broad range of hosts. The current paper is focused to investigate monthly prevalence and diversity of Cryptosporidium spp. during the spring and early summer (March–June) in 2009 and 2010 in farms with no history of cryptosporidiosis. Animal samples were analyzed to elucidate the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in two regions, West and the East catchments in Ireland. Our investigation demonstrates the prevalence ranges from 14% to 26% an early summer peak (June) was observed. Based on the findings of this study Cryptosporidium ryanae (in cattle, horses), and Cryptosporidium bovis/xiaoi followed by Cryptosporidium parvum (in sheep) were found to be the predominant species in asymptomatic cases. The circulation of other Cryptosporidium species such as C. parvum, C. bovis, C. ubiquitum, C. andersoni and Cryptosporidium horse and pig genotypes in livestock was investigated.