The objectives of the present study were to report the influence of factors like age, sex, breed, dung consistency and rearing system on prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in south Indian cattle. Two-step nested PCR was employed for detection of Cryptosporidium infection in dairy calves of south Indian states viz., Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and union territory i.e., Puducherry. A total of 459 dung samples from the calves were subjected to nested PCR, 182 were found positive with prevalence percent of 39.65. Age wise comparison showed a high prevalence of Cryptosporidium in the age group of one month old calves. This concludes that the cryptosporidiosis is highly age dependent with young calves showed the highest prevalence. Depending on the group had consistency of dung, the highest prevalence of Cryptosporidium was observed in semi-solid dung, followed by formed and the diarrhoeic group animals. Female calves showed slightly higher prevalence rate than male animals. Cow calves had an overall prevalence percent of 40.75 and the infection rate in buffalo calves was 36.28 %. In relation to rearing system, individual animals had 42.18 % and farm animals showed 38.46 % of Cryptosporidium infection. In conclusion, the prevalence of Cryptosporidium in dairy calves should be correlated with the factors like age, sex, breed, dung consistency and rearing system of the animal to arrive at a reliable epidemiological data on bovine cryptosporidiosis.
Keywords: Cattle; Cryptosporidium; India; Nested PCR; Prevalence.