Prevalence and associated factors of Cryptosporidium spp. infection in dairy calves of northwest Buenos Aires province, Argentina

CARLOS GARRO; MORICI GABRIEL; TOMAZIC MARIELA L; SCHNITTGER LEONHARD

Merida, Yucatan

Congreso; The 14 th Conference of the International Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics (ISVEE); 2015

ISVEE

Cryptosporidium spp. is a coccidian intestinal parasite in dairy calves in many parts of the world. Thenorthwest region of the province of Buenos Aires contains 30% of dairy herds throughout the province. Across-sectional study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in northwest region andidentify the potential association with grouping of calves (single calf vs. grouped), type of liquid diet (whole milkvs milk replacer), occurrence of diarrhea (yes or not) and age (≤ 20 vs. > 20 days-old). Stool samples werecollected from 552 calves less than 70 days-old from 27 dairy farms to August 2013-December 2014 innorthwest region from Buenos Aires province. Handling routines were recorded by means of a questionnaire.The oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp. were detected by light microscopy using Kinyoun staining. Theprevalence ratio and chi-square test were used to assess the magnitude and significance of the associationbetween infection and factors evaluated. Infected calves were found on 66.6% (CI 95% 49,2% - 84,1%) of thefarms. Within-herd prevalence of infection ranged from 0% to 60% with median of 8%. Median calves wasexamined by rodeo was 23 (Q1=16; Q3=23). The overall prevalence in dairy calves was 16.6% (CI 95% 13% -19%). All calves have a system of individual artificial breeding. No evidence that milk replacer feeding wasassociated with the occurrence of cryptosporidiosis (p = 0.3134). Calves with diarrhea were between 1.5 and3.3 times more likely to be infected calves without diarrhea (p