Detection of Infectious Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts from Lamb’s Lettuce: CC–qPCR’s Intake

Sophie Kubina,Isabelle Villena,Stéphanie La Carbona,Angélique Rousseau,Gilles Gargala,Loïc Favennec,Romy Razakandrainibe,Damien Costa

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9020215

Abstract

Cryptosporidium spp. is responsible for several food and waterborne disease outbreaks worldwide. Healthier lifestyles attract consumers to eat, notably, fresh food like fruits and vegetables. The consumption of raw or under-cooked food increases the risk of foodborne transmission of Cryptosporidiosis. The assessment of the consumer’s exposure to Cryptosporidium danger is crucial for public health. Still, the standardized method to detect this parasite in fresh leafy greens and berry fruits has only been available since 2016 and suffers from weaknesses. Consequently, in this study, we propose a method with minimum processing steps that combines cell culture and the quantitative PCR (CC–qPCR) for detecting infectious C. parvum oocysts recovered from lamb’s lettuce. This CC–qPCR is a rapid and easy method that can detect up to one oocyst, whereas it is undetectable by classic qPCR.

Highlights

During the last decade, food choices and eating habits have changed dramatically around the world and contributed to the globalization of food supplies
Vegetables, and drinking water have been implicated as vehicles for many environmental stages of parasites, protozoa such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Cyclospora [2]
This study aims to propose a cell culture and the quantitative PCR (CC–qPCR) method with minimum processing steps to detect the C. parvum infectious oocysts recovered from lamb’s lettuce

Summary

Introduction

Food choices and eating habits have changed dramatically around the world and contributed to the globalization of food supplies. This trend has been implicated as a reason for the emergence or re-emergence of many foodborne parasitic diseases [1]. In Europe, of 279 parasitic protozoan outbreaks in humans (representing 40,289 cases) reported since 2010 to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 58 were due to Cryptosporidium spp., representing. The number of foodborne parasitic outbreaks is probably underestimated. Among foodborne Cryptosporidium outbreaks described around the world, salad consumption was incriminated in 35% of cases [15]. Lamb’s lettuce grows low to the ground and is entirely consumed

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