Abstract
Cryptosporidium spp. are protozoan parasites that infect perhaps all vertebrate animals, with a subset of species and genotypes that function as food- and waterborne pathogens. The objective of this work was to collate the Cryptosporidium species and genotypes from common wild rodents on the west coast of the USA and update the information regarding the zoonotic potential of Cryptosporidium from these ubiquitous wild species. Representative sequences of the 18S rRNA gene for a unique set of Cryptosporidium isolates obtained from deer mice, house mice, mountain beavers, yellow-bellied marmot, long-tailed vole, California ground squirrels, Belding’s ground squirrels, and a golden-mantled ground squirrel in GenBank were selected for phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic and BLAST analysis indicated that 4 (18%) of the 22 unique Cryptosporidium sequences from these wild rodent species were 99.75% to 100% identical to known zoonotic species (C. parvum, C. ubiquitum, C. xiaoi), suggesting that a minority of these representative Cryptosporidium isolates could have a public health impact through food and waterborne routes of human exposure. These zoonotic isolates were shed by deer mice and a yellow-bellied marmot from California, and from a mountain beaver trapped in Oregon. In addition, the group of unique Cryptosporidium isolates from deer mice and ground dwelling squirrels exhibited considerable DNA diversity, with multiple isolates appearing to be either host-limited or distributed throughout the various clades within the phylogenetic tree representing the various Cryptosporidium species from host mammals. These results indicate that only a subset of the unique Cryptosporidium genotypes and species obtained from wild rodents on the US west coast are of public health concern; nevertheless, given the geographic ubiquity of many of these host species and often high density at critical locations like municipal watersheds or produce production fields, prudent pest control practices are warranted to minimize the risks of water- and foodborne transmission to humans.
Highlights
Cryptosporidium spp. infect a wide range of vertebrate animals, including humans [1,2].During the past two decades, new species have been continuously discovered for the Cryptosporidium genus
The aim of this work was to consolidate the diversity of Cryptosporidium spp. and genotypes shed in the feces of wild rodents that we and other researchers have documented over the past decade of research [15,20,22,23,24,25,26,27]
Cryptosporidium isolates from deer mice were widely distributed among various clades demonstrating considerable genomic diversity within this host species: two deer mouse isolates from California (KX082683 and KM199846) and two deer mouse isolates from Oregon (MN446009 and MT524970) formed one clade; a fifth deer mice isolate from California (KX082685) and a sixth deer mouse isolate from
Summary
Cryptosporidium spp. infect a wide range of vertebrate animals, including humans [1,2].During the past two decades, new species have been continuously discovered for the Cryptosporidium genus. According to reviews regarding Cryptosporidium spp. that infect humans and represent a risk to public health [4,10], Cryptosporidium spp. that are considered zoonotic include (major vertebrate hosts in parenthesis): C. andersoni (cattle), C. bovis (cattle), C. canis (dogs), C. cuniculus (rabbits), C. erinacei (tree squirrels), C. fayeri (kangaroo), C. felis (cats), C. meleagridis (turkeys), C. muris (mice), C. parvum (cattle), C. scrofarum (pigs), C. suis (pigs), C. tyzzeri (mice), C. ubiquitum (cattle), and C. xiaoi (sheep and goats). Chipmunk genotype I (chipmunks), horse genotype (horses), mink genotype (minks), and skunk genotype (skunks) have been associated with human infections [4] Among these zoonotic species and genotypes, C. hominis and C. parvum are responsible for the majority of human infections [10,11] and the majority of waterborne outbreaks in human communities [5]
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