Cryptosporidium

Ibrayev, Baltabek, Lider, Lyudmila, Kirjušina, Muza, Seitkamzina, Dinara, Rakhimzhanova, Damegul & Prokopenko, Alexandra, 2016, Epizootology Of Cryptosporidiosis In Northern Kazakhstan, Acta Biologica Universitatis Daugavpiliensis 16 (1), pp. 49-60 : 51-53

Cryptosporidium oocysts are not like other coccidian oocysts. The comparative picture is presented in Table 2.

Cryptosporidium oocysts and other protozoa have characteristic differences – Eimeria oocysts are relatively larger.

Fig.1 shows the Eimeria oocysts that are quite large 40 μm, in appearance resemble an egg with fusiform sporocyst inside.

Highest spread of cryptosporidiosis is recorded in “Rodina” LLP. For example, 7 out of 13 tested samples of faeces had positive results, at the same time 3 samples of faeces out of 11 tested in “Aral-Tobe” LLP had cryptosporidium oocysts, in “Agricultural Experimental Station” LLP 12 samples were positive, 5 samples out of 19 tested in “AKA” LLP also showed positive results. Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts were easily detected when stained smears were microscopically examined.

In “Astana-Onіm” JSC, “Izhevskoye” PC, “SC Food” LLP and S. Seifullin KATU Clinic cryptosporidiosis pathogens were not found.

Fig. 1. Eimeria oocysts (20x40).

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As a result, in our research, we observed that the colour of Cryptosporidium oocysts ranged from white to bright red (glowing) with transparent thin rims, clearly visible on pink background of smear.

Cryptosporidium oocysts in the form of round or oval formations of 4.8-5.3 μm size. Sometimesinside the oocysts-it was possible to detect elongated in the form of dark spots residual corpuscle with C-shaped sporozoites around it ( Fig. 2 ).

To determine age dynamics of cryptosporidiosis among the calves for this research it was decided to divide calves into groups according to age. As a result, we identified the following seven groups: 1 - Calves aged 1-5 days

2 - Calves aged 6-10 days

3 - Calves aged 11-15 days

4 - Calves aged 16-20 days

5 - Calves aged 21-25 days

6 - Calves aged 26-30 days

7 - Calves aged 31-60 days

Oocysts in the calves’ faeces started to appear on the fifth day of life. In turn, we have seen different peaks of infestation. The peaks of invasion were on the 10 th and 21 st day from the birth of the calves. Dynamics of cryptosporidium oocysts are discharged by the calves according to the age is summarized in Table 3.

According to the results of the research, given in Table 3, it is seen that in the group keeping the first peak of invasion was registered on the 6 th – 10 th day of life, which is 45%, while the individual content is 40% registered on the 21 st – 25 th day of life. On the 30 th day of life the calves’ extent of invasion was within 20%, while the two-month calves had it significantly reduced only 1.9%.

We have also paid attention to the consistency of the faeces studied in calves. Thus, during the study, the feces had thick, semi-liquid and liquid consistency. According to our observation the number of oocysts depends on the consistency of fecal (Fig.3).

Highest content of cryptosporidium oocysts is in liquid faeces, which under microscope have 26 or more copies; the average content in semi-liquid feces is from 4 to 25 copies, and the lowest content of cryptosporidium oocysts in the feces of thick consistency is from 1 to 3 oocysts (Fig. 3).

Also, we carried out the work on the study of questions of seasonality and the occurrence of cryptosporidiosis in cattle. For this purpose we collected faeces of calves aged 1 day to 2 months of life and conducted research for 3 years from 2012 – 2015.

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Table 4 - Seasonal dynamics of cryptosporidiosis in calves on the farms of Akmola region Table 5 - Cryptosporidium infestation of calves from cows of different breeds summer, extent of invasion falls down to 4.4%, in autumn it begins to increase up to 6.4%, which is believed to be due to disturbances in keeping hygiene and reduced resistance of organism as a whole. The average degree of invasion in all seasons is 12.6%.

Figures

Fig. 2. Cryptosporidium detected in the feces of calves (20х40).