Occurrence and Genetic Characteristics of Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium andersoni in Horses from Southwestern China |
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| Authors: | Lei Deng Wei Li Zhijun Zhong Chao Gong Xuefeng Cao Yuan Song Wuyou Wang Xiangming Huang Xuehan Liu Yanchun Hu Hualin Fu Min He Ya Wang Yue Zhang Kongju Wu Guangneng Peng |
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| Affiliation: | 1. The Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China;2. Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China |
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| Abstract: | A total of 333 fecal specimens from horses in southwestern China were genotyped based on analysis of the small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) gene. Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium andersoni were identified in 2 and 4 stool specimens, respectively. The identification of C. hominis was confirmed by sequence analysis of the 70‐kDa heat shock protein (HSP70) and oocyst wall protein (COWP) genes. Subtyping analysis of the 60‐kDa glycoprotein (GP60) gene sequence of C. hominis revealed a new rare subtype Id, named IdA15; only three Id isolates have been reported in humans to date. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis indicated that the C. andersoni subtype was A6, A5, A2, and A1 at the four minisatellite loci (MS1, MS2, MS3, and MS16, respectively). This is the first report to identify the presence of C. andersoni and C. hominis in horses in southwestern China and the first to identify a rare zoonotic subtype Id of C. hominis in horses. These findings suggest that infected horses may act as potential reservoirs of Cryptosporidium to transmit infections to humans. |
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| Keywords: |
GP60
multilocus sequence typing transmission |
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