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PREVALENCE OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM SPP. AND OTHER
ENTEROPATHOGENS INFECTIONS AT CALVES IN WESTERN,
CENTRAL AND NORTH‐WESTERN ROMANIA
Gh. DĂRĂBUŞ 1 , V. COZMA 2 , K. IMRE 1 , A. BEJAN 2 , M.S.ILIE 1 , MIRELA IMRE 1
1 – Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Timişoara, Calea Aradului, nr. 119
2 ‐ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Cluj‐Napoca, Calea Mănăştur, nr. 3‐5
e‐mail: gheorghe.darabus@fmvt.ro
Summary: The aim of the research was to reveal the most important enteropathogen agents in
calves in the first months of life and to establish their prevalence in Western, Central and North‐
Western Romania. The study was carried out on 370 calves, with or without diarrhea, in seven
Counties.
Based on the copro‐ELISA test, infections with Cryptosporidium (41.4%), rotavirus (16.2%),
coronavirus (10.3%) and Escherichia coli F5 (K99) enteropathogen (1.08%), were identified. The
most common association was semnalated between Cryptosporidium spp. and coronavirus (5.9%)
followed by Cryptosporidium spp. ‐ rotavirus (5.4%) mixed infection.
Higher prevalence observed in monoinfections (38.4%) compared with associated infections
(14.3%), may suggest a possible competition for the same biotope.
Key words: Cryptosporidium spp; rotavirus; coronavirus; Escherichia coli F5.
Discovered in 1907 by Tyzzer in the gastric glands of mice, protozoans to the genus
Cryptosporidium are present in many domestic animals, humans and other vertebrates, having
large host specificity. In the last decades, given the pathological and zoonotic implications,
interest in studying this parasite has increased enormously, many knowledge being
accumulated on biology, epidemiology, diagnosis and control of this parasitosis (3, 4, 10, 11,
12, 17, 18, 19, 31).
In mammals, especially in calves, in uncomplicated infections with microbial agents,
cryptosporidiosis causes an increased morbidity but generally, low mortality. Calves, especially
during the first month of life, are most frequently affected by Cryptosporidium, which is one of
the major enteropathogens involved in neonatal diarrhea. Infection with Cryptosporidium spp.
is often associated with coronavirus, rotavirus and Escherichia coli F5 (K99) (1, 8, 9, 13, 14, 27,
30).
As the diarrheal disease syndrome in calves is very important, conventional diagnosis methods
were improved with immunological methods, for detection of oocysts and other
enteropathogens in faeces (22, 28). The sensitivity and specificity of immunological methods is
undoubtedly (21, 22, 26).
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis and other
infections with three enteropathogen agents, in calves, in the first month of life, using ELISA
test in Western, Central and North ‐ Western Romania.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was carried out in Western, Central and North‐Western Romania in seven Counties
(Arad, Bihor, Caraş‐Severin, Timiş, Cluj, Mureş and Satu Mare). A number of 370 calves, aged
44