Abstract
The 2 main species of Cryptosporidium that infect humans are Cryptosporidium hominis and C. parvum. Here, multilocus fragment analysis of 3 microsatellite loci (ML1, ML2, and gp60) was used to subtype strains from sporadic cases of cryptosporidiosis in Wales and northwest England. Of 72 strains of C. parvum, 63 were typeable at all 3 loci, forming 31 subtypes. These strains formed 3 broad clusters, representing 74.6%, 20.6%, and 4.8% of typeable strains. Of 118 C. hominis strains, 106 were typeable at all 3 loci, forming 9 subtypes; however, 90% belonged to the same subtype. Analysis with epidemiologic data found an association between strains from case-patients who reported contact with farm animals and individual C. parvum microsatellite alleles. The strongest association was with ML1; all strains from case-patients that reported farm animal contact had the same allele (ML1-242). Microsatellite typing of C. parvum provides valuable additional information on the epidemiology of this pathogen.
Highlights
The 2 main species of Cryptosporidium that infect humans are Cryptosporidium hominis and C. parvum
A total of 190 sporadic strains of Cryptosporidium were included in this analysis: 118 were C. hominis, of which 106 were typeable at all 3 microsatellite loci; 72 were C. parvum, of which 63 were typeable at all 3 loci
Much greater diversity in allele size at all 3 microsatellite loci was displayed by C. parvum than by C. hominis
Summary
The 2 main species of Cryptosporidium that infect humans are Cryptosporidium hominis and C. parvum. Multilocus fragment analysis of 3 microsatellite loci (ML1, ML2, and gp60) was used to subtype strains from sporadic cases of cryptosporidiosis in Wales and northwest England. Analysis with epidemiologic data found an association between strains from casepatients who reported contact with farm animals and individual C. parvum microsatellite alleles. The strongest association was with ML1; all strains from case-patients that reported farm animal contact had the same allele (ML1–242). Cryptosporidium species are intestinal parasites that infect a variety of animals; Cryptosporidium hominis (synonym: Cryptosporidium parvum genotype 1) and C. parvum (synonym: C. parvum genotype 2) are the 2 most commonly identified species that cause disease (cryptosporidiosis) in humans [1,2]. A recent study that used minisatellite and microsatellite fragment analysis identified some C. parvum clones that may not be zoonotic [13,14]; this study compared isolates from humans and bovines in a single Scottish county. In the study described here, we investigated the subtypes of C. parvum and C. hominis and tested the association of subtypes with known epidemiologic factors
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