Occurrence of Cryptosporidium hominis in cattle bordering the Lake Mburo National Park in Kiruhura district, Western Uganda

Abstract

Cryptosporidium is an emerging opportunistic zoonotic pathogen that causes diarrhea illness in a wide range of hosts including livestock and humans. Globally there is exponential increase in livestock production to meet the worlds’ demand for animal protein as well as for financial reasons. However, there is raised concern of the public health threat due to contamination of the environment by livestock waste carrying zoonotic pathogens such as Cryptosporidium. This study set out to establish the prevalence of Cryptosporidium as well as the circulating genotypes in order to elucidate the potential role of cattle in the spread of human cryptosporidiosis. We collected rectal coprological samples from 363 cattle in 11 households in Kiruhura district, Southwestern Uganda. The samples were screened for presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts using the phenol auramine staining method followed by fluorescent microscopy. DNA was then extracted from the microscopy positive samples and the COWP gene amplified using PCR. Amplified gene products were sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis.