Cryptosporidiosis in Dairy Cattle

How to Break the Cycle of Cryptosporidiosis in Your Herd

Cryptosporidium parvum (Crypto), remains one of the most expensive calfhood diseases on dairies due to treatment costs, lost growth, labor demands and long-term health setbacks. Conventional colostrum may not contain adequate protective levels of antibody and there are no therapeutic agents that demonstrate

consistent ability to prevent oocyst excretion or reduce scours.

Clinical infections usually occur in young calves under 6 weeks of age and results in a creamy to watery diarrhea that persists for 5 to 7 days. Crypto is sometimes confused with coccidiosis which is also an intestinal parasite but with a larger oocyst and different life cycle. Coccidiosis occurs in calves over 6 weeks of age with diarrhea that usually contains swirls of blood. Published studies have shown that coccidiostats are not effective against Crypto scours or shedding and no cross protection is seen between the two parasites.

Crypto is a zoonotic parasite that can infect humans as well as calves.

Transmission

Transmission is by the fecal – oral route and once ingested, the oocysts release their sporozoites which penetrate the distal tips of the epithelial layer of the small intestine and begin replication through a complex life cycle. The resulting tissue damage leads to inflammation, diarrhea and an immune compromised gut that is highly susceptible to secondary infections. In calves, the common secondary infections with rotavirus or coronavirus result in a more severe infection with higher levels of dehydration and increased mortality rates. Oocysts are shed for 5 to 10 days after exposure with weight loss seen out to 6 weeks post infection.

The thick oocyst wall protects the sporozoites from harsh heat and disinfectants and oocysts are small enough (4.5 microns) to pass through commercial water filtration systems. Meaning when they get into water sheds it may lead to human exposure. Oocysts remain viable in moist environments for 3 to 4 months making simple cleaning and husbandry techniques inefficient. Studies have demonstrated that animals who go through enteric infections early in life have a predisposition to poor performance, a higher susceptibility to respiratory infections and reduce milking potential as adults.

Both clinical and subclinical infections have been identified by oocyst shedding studies. Subclinical infections are very common in animals greater than 2 weeks of age. Even though a subclinically infected animal does not have the same visual recognition as a clinically infected animal does, they remain a significant economic problem for the producer. Subclinical infected animals still have an inflammation of the gut with feed efficacy problems, weight loss, and continue to shed high numbers of oocysts. Once the environmental bio burden is large enough another clinical outbreak occurs.

This phenomenon is described as The Endemic Cycle of Crypto Infection.

Controlling Crypto Infection in Your Herd

As is the case with every neonatal infection good husbandry and thorough cleaning with soap and disinfectant will help lower the oocyst levels but will not eliminate the disease potential. With over 25% of scours in calves being attributed solely to Crypto, the biggest direct economic burden for producers is the cost of laborious daily treatments and electrolytes. Injectable, bolus or electrolyte treatments do not eliminate scours or oocyst shedding due to Crypto they tend to treat the symptoms of dehydration or secondary bacterial infections.

Some products focus on dam vaccination to boost milk immunity or use of other supplemental antibody types. These products may reduce some of the severity of the disease, but they do not lower oocyst shedding and are only effective as long as the passive antibodies are available. Once removed from the passive therapy the calf is susceptible to infection.

Oragen Technologies has developed a safe, non-toxic, organic compatible, all-natural product that primes animals at the mucosal surface of the gut and prepares them to fight off Crypto infections. CRYPTO GUARD® is a protein digest of all life cycle stages of the parasite and is administered in milk replacer or waste milk for 7 days to achieve optimal performance. Unlike a modified live oral product that will grow when administered to the animal, inactivated products need to be given over several days to achieve the same results. By starting the priming process early in life, you jump start the immune response before the complete impact of the disease can develop.

Break the Cycle of Poor Performance Due to Crypto

Experimental challenge studies with CRYPTO GUARD® were shown to significantly

reduce (P < 0.05); the severity of disease by 70%, reduce daily oocyst shedding by 100-fold daily for 10 consecutive days and eliminate mortality due to Crypto. Animals administered CRYPTO GUARD® outgained the placebo group at a

daily rate of 213% which continued for 3 weeks.

Field studies using CRYPTO GUARD® have shown that when used in a severely infected herds, the CRYPTO GUARD® animals had increased aptitude, decreased disease and shedding, and required significantly less treatments. CRYPTO GUARD® animals also outweighed their non-treated counterparts by 25 pounds more per calf at weaning.

CRYPTO GUARD® is the only product available that can help you break the cycle of endemic Crypto infections in your herd. By delivering all the correct proteins at the mucosal surface to all your calves you are providing your herd with the best protection possible.

Even in calves not showing visible signs of infection, CRYPTO GUARD® will increase their performance which translates to healthier more alert calves with higher feed efficiencies, weight gains, and less potential for respiratory issues all which increase your bottom line. By administering to all calves, you also reduce the amount of oocysts that are shed and along with good husbandry techniques you will reduce the bioburden in the environment and Break the Endemic Cycle of Crypto in Your Herd.