Prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in Van Cats

Cryptosporidium infection is a zoonotic disease caused by Cryptosporidium spp. and transmitted by faecal-oral cycle. Young animals are most likely to develop symptomatic infections and shed high quantities of infective oocysts. But infection in adult animals is asymptomatic and number of oocysts shed is usually very fewer than from young animals. (Bukhari and Smith, 1999). The aim of present study was to investigate the prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in Turkish Van Cats. Materials and Methods Forty six cats 96 kitten and 40 adult Van cats) from Van Cat House, aged between 16 weeks and 7 years were used in this study. Direct smear method and then formalin-ether sedimentation method were carried out to detect intestinal parasites from faecal samples of cats (n=46). The smears were stained by Modified Ziehl-Neelsen Method for identifying the red-pink oocyst of cryptosporidium. Results and Discussion Cryptosporidium sop. are coccidial protozoon belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa which inhabit the intestinal and respiratory surface epithelium of mammals, birds and reptiles. The first species of this genus was recognized in gastric glands of the laboratory mice in 1907 and was named Cryptosporidium muris (Tyzzer, 1907). In Cryptosporidium spp. has been reported from the faeces of 13 non-feral Japanese cats (Iseki,- 1979). Cryptosporidium prevalence was found to be 3.8% (Arai et al., 1990; Spain et al., 2001), 5.4% (Hill et al., 2000) and 8.1% (Mtambo etal., 1991) in other studies. In the present study, it was detected that all kittens (n=6) were infected by Cryptosporidium spp. (13.0%). No cryptosporidium oocysts were found in adult cats. Similarly, previous reports indicate that more young animals are infected with Cryptosporidium spp. Than old animals (Bukhari and Smith, 1999). Pets and farm animals with Cryptosporidium and other parasitic infections may be important sources and great risk factor for immunocompromised adults and children, especially those with AIDS (Lewis et al., 1985). In the present study, in addition to Cryptosporidium spp. Other gastrointestinal parasites including Toxocara cati (15.2%), Taenia taeniaeformis 4.3%), Giardia spp. (6.5%) and Isospora felis (2.17%) were detected. Infection incidence with only one species of parasite was more common than infection with multiple parasite species. One kitten was infected with one helminth (Toxocara cati) and two protozoa (Giardia spp. and Isospora felis). Toxocara cati was the most prevelant helminth (15.2%), followed by Taenia taeniaeformis (4.3%). Giardia spp. was detected in one adult and two kittens. Isospora felis was detected in only one kitten. Cryptosporidium infection in kittens and healthy or immunodepressed. cats can cause a spectrum of diseases from an asymptomatic state to mild, transient diarrhoea and cholera-like illness; or prolonged and life threatening malabsorption syndrome. In young animals with cryptosporidium infection, there is dehydrating diarrhoea caused by development of the parasites within the epithelial cells of the intestinal. mucosa (Tzipori et al., 1983). In the present study, no clinical symptoms including diarrhoea were found in young cats with cryptosporidium oocysts in their faecal smears. These results agree with the result of Iseki (loc. cit.). There have been reports linking feline cryptosporidiosis to human infection. (Bukhari and Smith, loc. cit.; Mtambo et al., loc. cit.). But many cat owners and breeders are not aware of feline zoonotic parsites and their mode of transmission to humans. Thus, the veterinarians have a great role in educating the cat owners and breeders regarding the transmission of zoonotic parasites such as cryptosporidium.