Environmental load of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts from cattle manure in feedlots from the central and western United States.
The first step in assessing the risk of water contamination by Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts from feedlot cattle (Bos taurus) production systems is to quantify the number of C. parvum oocysts present in the fecal material deposited by feedlot cattle. Our primary objective for this project was to estimate the daily environmental load of C. parvum oocysts in fecal material deposited by feedlot cattle from across the central and western USA. Our secondary goal was to genotype isolates of C. parvum from feedlot cattle to help facilitate proper identification of mammalian sources of waterborne C. parvum. Based on 5274 fecal samples from 22 feedlots in seven states (California, Washington, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, and South Dakota), we estimated a point prevalence of C. parvum of 0.99 to 1.08% in fecal material from feedlot pens from a wide range of climates and a diverse range of feedlot management systems. On average, fresh fecal material from throughout feedlot systems (recent arrivals to nearing slaughter) contained about 1.3 to 3.6 oocysts/g feces, which roughly translates to about 2.8 x 10(4) to 1.4 x 10(5) oocysts/animal per day.
Atwill
Edward R
ER
Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of California-Davis, Tulare, CA 93274, USA. ratwill@vmtrc.ucdavis.edu
Pereira
Maria Das Gracas C
MD
Alonso
L Herrera
LH
Elmi
Cyrus
C
Epperson
William B
WB
Smith
Robert
R
Riggs
Walter
W
Carpenter
Linda V
LV
Dargatz
David A
DA
Hoar
Bruce
B
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D033661:Oocysts / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014481:United States