Vet World Vol.17 July-2024 Article - 12
Research Article
Veterinary World, 17(7): 1523-1529
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1523-1529
Prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. infection in rodents and chickens in Franceville, Gabon
2. Département de Biologie et Ecologie Animale, Institut de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale (IRET/ CENAREST), Libreville, Gabon.
3. Department of Environment and Surveillance of Emerging and re-emerging diseases, Ecole Doctorale Régionale d’Infectiologie de Franceville, Franceville, Gabon.
4. Unité Emergence des Maladies Virales, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches Médicales de Franceville, Franceville, Gabon.
5. Département de Biologie, Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku, Franceville, Gabon.
6. Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, England, UK.
7. Department of Zootechnology, Institut National Supérieur d’ Agronomie et de Biotechnologies, Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku, Franceville, Gabon.
8. Department of Health and Environment, Université Libreville Nord, Libreville, Gabon.
Background and Aim: Cryptosporidium spp. members of the phylum Apicomplexa are obligate protozoan parasites capable of infecting various vertebrate hosts, including rodents and chickens. Infection caused by these parasites may lead to zoonotic diseases in humans. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in rodents and domestic chickens sampled in Franceville, Gabon.
Materials and Methods: Two hundred and eighty-five samples were collected, of which 185 samples were from rodents and 100 from domestic chickens. Microscopy after modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining and nested polymerase chain reaction targeting the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene was used to examine Cryptosporidium spp.
Results: The overall prevalence of Cryptosporidium oocysts was 55.8%, with a prevalence of 72.4% in rodents and 25.0% in domestic chickens. Molecular analysis showed that Cryptosporidium spp. were present in 4.0% of the samples. No significant correlation was observed between Cryptosporidium spp. carriage and sex or location in this study. These results indicate that Cryptosporidium spp. persist and circulate in the studied animal species in Franceville, Gabon.
Conclusion: Infection with Cryptosporidium is very common in rodents and chickens in Franceville. The potential risk of human contamination cannot be ruled out. More research should be conducted to characterize Cryptosporidium species circulating in rodents and chickens in Gabon. Such studies are essential to better understand the epidemiology of this protozoan and its potential impact on public health.
Keywords: Cryptosporidium spp., domestic chickens, Gabon, Oocysts, rodents.
How to cite this article: Makouloutou-Nzassi P, Bouchedi B, Mamgombi-Pambou JB, Longo-Pendy NM, N’dilimabaka N, Bangueboussa F, Koumba S, Mouity MA, Boundenga L, Maganga GD, and Mintsa-Nguema R (2024) Prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. infection in rodents and chickens in Franceville, Gabon, Veterinary World, 17(7): 1523-1529.
Received: 2023-10-31 Accepted: 2024-06-12 Published online: 2024-07-13
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1523-1529
Copyright: Makouloutou-Nzassi, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
