Cryptosporidium Genotypes in Wildlife from a New York Watershed

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 73; no. 20; pp. 6475 - 6483
• Main Authors: Feng, Yaoyu, Alderisio, Kerri A, Yang, Wenli, Blancero, Lisa A, Kuhne, William G, Nadareski, Christopher A, Reid, Michael, Xiao, Lihua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01-10-2007; American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Wild - parasitology; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Cryptosporidiosis - parasitology; Cryptosporidiosis - veterinary; Cryptosporidium; Cryptosporidium - classification; Cryptosporidium - genetics; Cryptosporidium - isolation & purification; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Fresh Water - parasitology; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genotype; Genotype & phenotype; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; New York City; Phylogeny; Polymorphism; Protozoa; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Ribosomal - genetics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Species Specificity; Watersheds; Wildlife; New York; United States; North America; America; New York City; New York City New York; USA, New York, New York City; Protozoa; Cryptosporidium; Drinking water; Genotype; Apicomplexa; Watershed
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336
• DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01034-07

To identify the animal sources for Cryptosporidium contamination, we genotyped Cryptosporidium spp. in wildlife from the watershed of the New York City drinking water supply, using a small-subunit rRNA gene-based PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing. A total of 541 specimens from 38 species of wildlife were analyzed. One hundred and eleven (20.5%) of the wildlife specimens were PCR positive. Altogether, 21 Cryptosporidium genotypes were found in wildlife samples, 11 of which were previously found in storm runoff in the watershed, and six of these 11 were from storm water genotypes of unknown animal origin. Four new genotypes were found, and the animal hosts for four storm water genotypes were expanded. With the exception of the cervine genotype, most genotypes were found in a limited number of animal species and have no major public health significance.