2000 Volume 53 Issue 1 Pages 25-29
Fecal samples were collected from beef cattle bred in Hyogo Prefecture and examined by means of the centrifugal flotation technique for Cryptosporidium oocysts. Of the 582 samples examined, 10 (1.7%) were positive for the oocysts of 2 Cryptosporidium species identified on the basis of morphological characteristics observed under a phase-contrast microscope as C. muris and C. parvum. Prevalence rates were 1.5%(9 heads of cattle) for C. muris and 0.2%(1 head of cattle) for C. parvum. During an 8-month periodin 1998, an additional 116 head of cattle from 2 farms that had been proven Cryptosporidium-positive were examined as further study of the epidemiological features of Cryptosporidium. C. muris infection rates by the month at these 2 farms were as high as 12.5-28.6%, with a mean of 18.1%. These results indicate that C.muris distribution is high in specific farms but is not even throughout Hyogo Prefecture.
