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found in calves in this study is close to that obtained from De la Fuente et al. (1998b) in
Central Spain (52.3%) which also made epidemiological investigations in young cattle in the
first month of life. Similarly, in Germany, Otto et al. (1995), found in calves, in the first three
weeks of life, a prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection of 52.5%.
Table 2
Prevalence of infection with enteropathogens in calves in the first months of life in
investigated areas of Romania
Infection(s) with Positive samples (%) (n=370)
Cryptosporidium alone 103 (27.8)
Rotavirus alone 31 (8.4)
Coronavirus alone 7 (1.9)
E. coli F5 (K99) alone 1 (0.3)
Cryptosporidium + Coronavirus 22 (5.9)
Cryptosporidium + Rotavirus 20 (5.4)
Cryptosporidium +E. coli F5 (K99 2 (0.5)
Coronavirus + Rotavirus 3 (0.8)
Cryptosporidium + Rotavirus + Coronavirus 5 (1.3)
Cryptosporidium + Rotavirus + Coronavirus
1 (0.3)
+E. coli F5 (K99)
Total 195 (52.7)
Legend: n = number of animals investigated
The second enteropathogen agent, as prevalence (16.2%), was rotavirus. It is however less
prevalent than reported by other authors in Israel (41.4%), Spain (42.7%), Ireland (38.9%) (6,
15, 16). Values close to those reported by us were reported by Abraham et al. (1992) in
Ethiopia (16.7%), Garcia et al. (2000) in Spain (20.4%) and Pérez et al (1997) in Costa Rica (7%).
Coronavirus infection prevalence in calves (10.3%) found in the investigated areas are
comparable to that found by Akam et al. (2004) in Algeria (7.5%).
Lower prevalence of E. coli F5 (K99) infection found in our study may be a consequence of
reduced sensitivity of tetravalent ELISA‐kit, fact reported in a paper by de Fuente et al.
(1998a).
Mixed infections were found in 14.3% of the investigated calves. The most common
association observed was between Cryptosporidium and coronaviruses (5.9%) followed by
Cryptosporidium – coronavirus association (5.4%). This fact is in contradiction with the results
published in the majority of studies worldwide, who sustained that the most common mixed
infection is with Cryptosporidium and rotaviruses (6, 13, 16, 20).
The four pathogen agents identified by ELISA, evoluated as unique infections and lass as
associated infections. This may suggest a competition between different enteropathogen
agents for the same biotope.
CONCLUSIONS
� The epidemiological screening carried out using ELISA double‐sandwich technique at
young calves, in the first month of life, from Western, Central and North‐Western Romania
revealed a prevalence of 41.4% for cryptosporidiosis, 10.3 for coronavirosis, 16.2% for
rotavirosis and 1.08% for enterotoxigen E. coli F5 infection.
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