Abstract #143

# 143
Prevalence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in preweaned dairy heifer calves.
Natalie J. Urie*1,2, Jason E. Lombard1, Ronald Fayer3, Monica Santin-Duran3, Chelsey B. Shivley1,2, 1USDA:APHIS:VS:Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health, Fort Collins, CO, 2Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 3USDA:ARS:NEA:BARC: Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Lab, Beltsville, MD.

As part of the calf component of the National Animal Health Monitoring System′s Dairy 2014 study, fecal samples were collected from 782 calves on 87 farms in 11 of the top dairy states. These results from the interim analysis are based on approximately 25% of the total number of calves expected to be enrolled in the study. The samples were examined for Cryptosporidium (Crypto) and Giardia by immunofluorescence microscopy. Samples were collected from 612 calves in the East [IA, MI, MN, MO, NY, OH, PA, VT, VA, WI] and from 239 calves in the West [CA, CO, WA]. Calves were from 3 to 54 d of age at the time of sampling, with a mean age of 22 d. Overall, 48.2% of calves were infected with Crypto and 36.5% were infected with Giardia. One fifth of calves (20.0%) were infected with both Crypto and Giardia; 28.3% were infected with Crypto only, and 16.5% were infected with Giardia only. Approximately one-third of calves (35.3%) were not infected with either organism. Crypto was detected in 54.1% of calves 21 d of age or younger (n = 442) and in 40.6% of calves older than 21 d of age (n = 340). Giardia infection also differed between age groups: Giardia was detected in 32.4% of calves 21 d of age or younger and in 41.8% of calves older than 21 d of age. The percentage of samples positive for Crypto was similar between the East and West (47.4 and 50.2%, respectively). A higher percentage of calves in the East were infected with Giardia compared with calves in the West (40.0 and 27.8%, respectively). Calves were sampled from March through December 2014; 29.5% were sampled in April–June (spring), and 58.6% were sampled in July–September (summer). Only 11.9% were sampled during October–December (fall). The prevalence of Crypto was not different between seasons. Giardia levels differed among the seasons with a prevalence of 36.8% in the spring, 33.8% in the summer and 48.4% in the fall. Giardia prevalence in calves was lower than Crypto, but Giardia was more prevalent in the East region and during the fall. Species and assemblage identification for Crypto and Giardia, respectively, for these and additional samples await molecular applications.

Key Words: calves, Cryptosporidium, Giardia