Abstract
An outbreak of gastrointestinal illness occurred among a cohort of 56 veterinary technology and 100 veterinary science students at Massey University over an eight-week period in 2013. This coincided with calving in New Zealand’s seasonal dairy farming system and a time when calves with diarrhoea are commonly seen by veterinarians. Laboratory and epidemiological investigations were instigated by MidCentral Public Health Service (MCPHS) in conjunction with the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences (IVABS) at Massey University. Eighty students responded to a questionnaire of which 19 met the case definition, a 24% attack rate. Faecal specimens from seven students contained Cryptosporidium oocysts and Cryptosporidium parvum IIa A18G3R1 was identified from one of the specimens. The inferred median incubation period was five days (range 1–12 days). All of the cases were self-limiting, characterized by diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, and in some cases vomiting, headache, and fever. Having contact with calves with diarrhoea was significantly associated with increased adjusted odds of being a case (OR 10.61, 95% CI 1.87–108.29 for one week of contact; OR 55.05, 95% CI 3.80–1931.18 for two weeks of contact). Outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis had occurred previously among veterinary students at Massey University, but the extremely high infectivity of C. parvum resulted in student illness despite enhanced hygiene precautions.
Highlights
Cryptosporidiosis is a common gastrointestinal disease caused by a pathogenic protozoan, of the genus Cryptosporidium (Apicomplexa: Cryptosporidiidae) [1], which affects all mammals, birds, reptiles, and possibly fish [2] New Zealand health authorities reported 19.7 cases per 100,000 between 2004 and2011, there were significant regional differences that correlated to exposure to livestock [3]The national reported incidence in 2012 was 31.1 per 100,000—a significant increase from previous years [4]
This paper describes the investigation of an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis among veterinary science and veterinary technology students at Massey University over an eight-week period during the spring-calving period in 2013
Over the time period 19 August to 7 October, 31 calves with diarrhoea were admitted to the large animal hospital at Massey University
Summary
Cryptosporidiosis is a common gastrointestinal disease caused by a pathogenic protozoan, of the genus Cryptosporidium (Apicomplexa: Cryptosporidiidae) [1], which affects all mammals, birds, reptiles, and possibly fish [2] New Zealand health authorities reported 19.7 cases per 100,000 between 2004 and. The national reported incidence in 2012 was 31.1 per 100,000—a significant increase from previous years [4]. National statistics tend to underestimate the incidence of infectious gastrointestinal disease, as many cases are not notified, so the true incidence will be higher [5]. Distinguishing characteristics that are critical to the epidemiology and spread of Cryptosporidium are as follows: (1) the lifecycle is completed within an individual host and oocysts are fully sporulated and infectious upon shedding; (2) the wide range of susceptible hosts, including. Sci. 2017, 4, 29 humans; (3) oocysts are highly resistant in the environment, persisting for weeks to months after contamination and are not inactivated by chlorination; (4) as little as one to ten oocysts can establish infection in a susceptible host [6]; and infected calves shed as much as 3.89 × 1010 oocysts during a
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