Authors

Discussion

Cryptosporidiosis is a globally important diarrhoeal disease in both animals and people. Livestock, particularly young calves, are vulnerable to cryptosporidiosis and have been identified as a major source of environmental Cryptosporidium transmission. Calf vulnerability can also have a major impact on the cattle industry through the costs of diagnosis and treatment, production losses, poor future performance, and mortality. Cattle are commonly infected with four species of Cryptosporidium, with the zoonotic Cryptosporidium parvum often associated with clinical disease in calves. The effect of altered calf management, notably delayed calf removal from the dam, on Cryptosporidium infections has, however, not been investigated.

We collected faecal samples from individual cattle over several weeks during spring 2021 to determine whether delayed calf removal affects infection timing in three experimental groups: 1) Control group - dam and calf separated on the day of birth with no further contact, 2) Full-time group - dam and calf together 100% of the time until weaning at eight-weeks, 3) Part-time group - dam and calf together 50% of the time until weaning at eight-weeks. We used nested PCR amplification and further sequencing on extracted faecal DNA collected from both calf and dam samples. Infection with Cryptosporidium spp. was identified in all three groups at different levels, with a higher incidence in the control group. Improving our knowledge on Cryptosporidium transmission is essential to mitigate disease risk and to support a One Health approach to human and animal cryptosporidiosis.