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. 2022 Jul 7:12:901766.
doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.901766. eCollection 2022.

Decline in Cryptosporidium Infection in Free-Ranging Rhesus Monkeys in a Park After Public Health Interventions

Ruilian Jia  1 , Xi Wen  2 , Yaqiong Guo  2 , Lihua Xiao  2 , Yaoyu Feng  1   2 , Na Li  2
Affiliations

Decline in Cryptosporidium Infection in Free-Ranging Rhesus Monkeys in a Park After Public Health Interventions

Ruilian Jia et al. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. .

Abstract

Nonhuman primates (NHPs) are considered an important source of parasitic zoonoses. A study in 2010 revealed high prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in a public park in Guiyang, southwestern China, which called for the control of disease in animals and long-term epidemiological tracking of Cryptosporidium spp. After the initiation of a series of public health interventions, we collected 2,402 fecal samples from monkeys and 123 water samples from lakes in the park on six occasions during 2013-2019. They were analyzed and genotyped for Cryptosporidium spp. using PCR and sequence analyses of the small subunit rRNA gene. The C. hominis and C. parvum identified were further subtyped by sequence analysis of the 60 kDa glycoprotein gene. Compared with the high prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in fecal samples (10.9% or 45/411) and water samples (47.8% or 11/23) in 2010, only 18 (0.7%) fecal samples and 3 (2.4%) water samples collected in the present study were positive for Cryptosporidium spp., including C. hominis (n = 9) and C. parvum (n = 12). The former belonged to the NHP-adapted IfA17G2R3 subtype, while the latter mostly belonged to rodent-adapted IIpA9. Therefore, the detection rate and genetic diversity of Cryptosporidium spp. during this study period were much lower than those before the public health interventions, and there was a switch from common occurrence of anthroponotic C. hominis subtypes to sporadic occurrence of NHP-adapted C. hominis and rodent-adapted C. parvum subtypes.

Keywords: Cryptosporidium spp.; intervention; nonhuman primates; rhesus monkey; subtype; surveillance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sequences of hypervariable region of the small subunit rRNA gene among Cryptosporidium hominis isolates from various hosts. Compared with the reference sequence AJ849464 (Soba et al., 2006), identical nucleotides and nucleotide deletions are present as dots and cashes, respectively. The two regions with nucleotide substitutions and differences in the number of consecutive T are labeled. Sequences from this and previous studies are indicated. In this study, all samples used in the analysis are from monkey feces.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic relationship of Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum subtypes based on a maximum likelihood (ML) analysis of sequences of the 60 kDa glycoprotein gene from collected samples and compared to the GenBank reference gene, with bootstrap values above 50% being shown on nodes. Isolates from this study are in bold and labeled with red triangles, while isolates from the study conducted in 2010 are in bold and labeled with black triangles. In this study, all samples used in the analysis are from monkey feces.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic overview of the location and ecosystem of Qianling Mountain Park, main One Health interfaces, and potential public health implications. The star symbol represents Beijing city, the capital of China.
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