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This report is the first to describe Cryptosporidium infection in bamboo rats (Rhizomys sinensis). Ninety-two fresh fecal specimens were collected from a pet market in Ya'an City, China. One Cryptosporidium isolate from an asymptomatic host and two isolates from separate hosts with diarrhea were obtained by using Sheather's sucrose flotation technique and modified acid-fast staining. The Cryptosporidium spp. were genotyped by nested PCR and nucleotide sequencing of the small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA), 70-kDa heat shock protein (HSP70), oocyst wall protein (COWP), and actin genes: isolates were identified as Cryptosporidium parvum with minor nucleotide differences at all four loci. Further subtyping was performed by PCR amplification and DNA sequence analysis of the 60-kDa glycoprotein (gp60) gene: two subtype families were detected, including a novel C. parvum subtype IIpA9 and a rare subtype IIoA13G1 (only reported in diarrheal patients of Sweden). Our results suggest that the bamboo rat is a reservoir host of C. parvum. Significantly, we discovered that the rare C. parvum subtype family IIo is also a zoonotic subtype and confirmed C. parvum subtype IIpA9 as a novel subtype family., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Given the paucity of literature available on rabbits infected with Cryptosporidium in Sichuan Province (China), 290 fecal samples were collected from rabbits in the animal house of Sichuan Agricultural University, China and examined for Cryptosporidium oocysts using the Sheather's sucrose flotation technique and a modified acid-fast staining method. Three samples tested positive (prevalence = 1.03%). The positive isolates were genotyped by sequence analysis of the 18S rRNA, HSP70, COWP, and Cp135 genes and characterized by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the 18S rRNA gene. Phylogenetic analysis was established using the neighbor-joining (NJ) method. All the isolates were identified as Cryptosporidium cuniculus. Further subtyping of the positive isolates was performed by DNA sequencing of the 60-kDa glycoprotein (gp60) gene. Only 1 subtype family was detected, Va, which was proposed to be a new subtype, VaA31. This study is the first report about the prevalence, genetic identification, and Cp135 gene of C. cuniculus in rabbits in Sichuan Province, China. The obtained results indicate that the C. cuniculus subtype in rabbits in Sichuan Province is unique.

Fecal specimens from two Bactrian camels were collected in the Ya'an city zoo of China and were examined for Cryptosporidium by centrifugal flotation. One specimen was found to be parasitized by Cryptosporidium via microscopy, and the oocysts were measured to have an average size of 7.03 × 5.50 μm (n > 50). The isolate was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and DNA sequence analysis of the partial 18S rRNA, COWP, and A135 genes, and was confirmed to be Cryptosporidium andersoni with minor nucleotide differences. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis indicated that the subtype of the camel-derived C. andersoni isolate was A4, A4, A4, and A1 at the four minisatellite loci (MS1, MS2, MS3, and MS16, respectively). Therefore, this isolate belongs to the most common MLST subtype reported in cattle in China and is distinct from two other known camel C. andersoni MLST subtypes (A6, A4, A2, A1 and A6, A5, A2, A1). Animal transmission experiments demonstrated that the C. andersoni isolate was not infectious to immunosuppressed or immunocompetent Kun-ming mice, Sprague-Dawley rats, and hamsters but was biologically similar to most bovine C. andersoni isolates characterized so far. Therefore, transmission of this camel-derived C. andersoni isolate is very likely to occur between camels and bovine.