Cryptosporidium parvum is a common intestinal parasite which is associated with severe acute diarrhoea
in humans and animals. This work aimed to determine Cryptosporidium sp. in positive faecal
samples by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Cryptosporidium oocysts were isolated from 10
out of 20 Egyptian stray dogs with diarrhoea. The zoonotic C. parvum was found to be present in two
isolates which showed successful amplification of a specific DNA fragment at 550 bp with C. parvum
outer wall protein (COWP) gene amplicon using two specific primers CRY-15 and CRY-9. This is
the first investigation on the presence of C. parvum among Egyptian stray dogs and it has pointed to
the existence of a genotype that may play an important role as a source of human and farm animal
cryptosporidiosis.
Key words: Cryptosporidium parvum, Egypt, outer wall protein gene, PCR, stray dogs |
