Search

A total of 333 fecal specimens from horses in southwestern China were genotyped based on analysis of the small subunit rRNA ( SSU rRNA) gene. Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium andersoni were identified in 2 and 4 stool specimens, respectively. The identification of C. hominis was confirmed by sequence analysis of the 70- kDa heat shock protein ( HSP70) and oocyst wall protein ( COWP) genes. Subtyping analysis of the 60- kDa glycoprotein ( GP60) gene sequence of C. hominis revealed a new rare subtype Id, named IdA15; only three Id isolates have been reported in humans to date. Multilocus sequence typing ( MLST) analysis indicated that the C. andersoni subtype was A6, A5, A2, and A1 at the four minisatellite loci ( MS1, MS2, MS3, and MS16, respectively). This is the first report to identify the presence of C. andersoni and C. hominis in horses in southwestern China and the first to identify a rare zoonotic subtype Id of C. hominis in horses. These findings suggest that infected horses may act as potential reservoirs of Cryptosporidium to transmit infections to humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]