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Review
. 2025 Jul 1:40:e00274.
doi: 10.1016/j.fawpar.2025.e00274. eCollection 2025 Sep.

The transformation of a Cryptosporidium reference microbiology service to tackle the One Health challenge

Rachel Chalmers  1   2 , Guy Robinson  1   2 , Harriet Risby  1 , Kristin Elwin  1 , Rebecca Howarth  3 , Felicity Simkin  3 , Andrew Nelson  3
Affiliations
Review

The transformation of a Cryptosporidium reference microbiology service to tackle the One Health challenge

Rachel Chalmers et al. Food Waterborne Parasitol. .

Abstract

Cryptosporidium has a wide range of hosts and routes of transmission, so public health investigations require Cryptosporidium species identification and discriminatory typing to enhance the microbiological evidence provided by routine diagnostic tests. A pioneering seven-locus genotyping scheme, based on multilocus variable number of tandem repeats analysis, has been validated and implemented for Cryptosporidium parvum by the national Cryptosporidium Reference Unit for England and Wales. In this paper, the journey to implementation as a service to support disease surveillance, epidemiology and outbreak investigations, and the resultant benefits to public health activities are described.

Keywords: Cluster; Cryptosporidium parvum; Epidemiology; Multilocus; Outbreak; Subtype.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Overview of the laboratory workflow for genotyping and subtyping at the Cryptosporidium Reference Unit.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison of C. parvum PCR Ct value and MLVA typability categorised as full or partial MLVA profiles in 901 unconcentrated DNA samples. Samples that are not fully typable by MLVA are candidates for concentration and increased in number above Ct 34. Note: full typability is defined as alleles identified at loci 2 to 7; locus 1 may have a null return due to primer sequence mismatches.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The expression and reporting of MLVA profiles from the seven-locus C. parvum MLVA scheme.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Overview of the weekly script for MLVA cluster identification in Wales.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Escalation of MLVA clusters for public health action in Wales.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Chalmers R, Caccio S. Towards a consensus on genotyping schemes for surveillance and outbreak investigations of Cryptosporidium, Berlin, June 2016. Euro Surveill. 2016;21(37):pii=30338. DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.37.30338. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chalmers R.M., Pérez-Cordón G., Cacció S.M., Klotz C., Robertson L.J., on behalf of the participants of the Cryptosporidium genotyping workshop (EURO-FBP) Cryptosporidium genotyping in Europe: the current status and processes for a harmonised multi-locus genotyping scheme. Exp. Parasitol. 2018;191:25–30. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2018.06.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chalmers RM, Robinson G, Elwin K, Elson R. Analysis of the Cryptosporidium spp. and gp60 subtypes linked to human outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis in England and Wales, 2009 to 2017 Parasites and. Vectors. 2019;12:95. doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3354-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chandra, N.L., King G., Risby H., Robinson G., Vivancos R., Thomas, D., Fox, A., McCarthy, N., Chalmers, RM. Improved epidemiological insight and outbreak detection through genetic clustering by MLVA of Cryptosporidium parvum: Wales and North West England, 2022. In preparation.

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