Diagnosis of Cryptosporidium on a sheep farm with neonatal diarrhea by immunofluorescence assays.
An outbreak of diarrhea in neonatal lambs occurred on a sheep farm in northern Ohio. Diarrhea commenced as early as 1 week of age and lasted for about 3-4 days. Although 100% of the newborn lambs were affected, most had recovered by 3 weeks of age. Cryptosporidium infection appeared to be the cause of diarrhea. Fecal examination of nine diarrheic newborn lambs (5-10 days old), 23 older lambs (2-3 weeks old, six with diarrhea) and 23 clinically normal ewes by immunofluorescence assays revealed infection rates of 100%, 78.3% and 17.4%, respectively. Most newborn lambs had high oocyst counts. Ewes were considered to be an important source of infection for lambs.
Xiao
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Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210.
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D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000469:parasitology*; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003458:Cryptosporidium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000662:veterinary; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*