C. parvum in Melbourne's catchments: Investigating prevalence and developing high-resolution molecular detection tools

Abstract

This paper outlines work done to study the prevalence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in animals in water catchment areas of Melbourne and to establish molecular tools for the identification of the parasite to the species and strain levels. In a first epidemiological survey Cryptosporidium was found in high prevalence (17 of 24 species examined; n = 490), whereas Giardia was detected in two animals. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based mutation scanning technique was established for identification of C. parvum to the strain level from oocyst isolates. This so-called single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique allows high-resolution analysis of genetic variability within and be..