Korean J Parasitol.  2006 Mar;44(1):27-33. 10.3347/kjp.2006.44.1.27.

Genotype analysis of Cryptosporidium spp. prevalent in a rural village in Hwasun-gun, Republic of Korea

• Park JH
• Guk SM
• Han ET
• Shin EH
• Kim JL
• Chai JY

• KMID: 1091833
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2006.44.1.27

Abstract

Two species of Cryptosporidium are known to infect man; C. hominis which shows anthroponotic transmission between humans, and C. parvum which shows zoonotic transmission between animals or between animals and man. In this study, we focused on identifying genotypes of Cryptosporidium prevalent among inhabitants and domestic animals (cattle and goats), to elucidate transmittal routes in a known endemic area in Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea. The existence of Cryptosporidium oocysts was confirmed using a modified Ziehl- Neelsen stain. Human infections were found in 7 (25.9%) of 27 people examined. Cattle cryptosporidiosis cases constituted 7 (41.2%) of 17 examined, and goat cases 3 (42.9%) of 7 examined. Species characterizations were performed on the small subunit of the rRNA gene using both PCR-RFLP and sequence analysis. Most of the human isolates were mixtures of C. hominis and C. parvum genotypes and similar PCR-RFLP patterns were observed in cattle and goat isolates. However, sequence analyses identified only C. hominis in all isolates examined. The natural infection of cattle and goats with C. hominis is a new and unique finding in the present study. It is suggested that human cryptosporidiosis in the studied area is caused by mixtures of C. hominis and C. parvum oocysts originating from both inhabitants and domestic animals.

Keyword

Cryptosporidium hominis; Cryptosporidium parvum; human; cattle; goat; PCR-RFLP; small subunit rRNA; sequence; Republic of Korea

MeSH Terms

Rural Health
Prevalence
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods
Mutation/genetics
Molecular Sequence Data
Korea/epidemiology
Humans
Goats
Goat Diseases/epidemiology/*parasitology
Genotype
Genes, rRNA/genetics
DNA, Protozoan/chemistry
DNA Primers/chemistry
Cryptosporidium parvum/genetics/isolation & purification
Cryptosporidium/classification/*genetics
Cryptosporidiosis/*epidemiology/*parasitology
Cattle Diseases/epidemiology/*parasitology
Cattle
Base Sequence
Animals