CHRONIC CRYPTOSPORIDIOSIS IN A BACTRIAN CAMEL (CAMELUS BACTRIANUS)

Abstract

A 4-yr-old female Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) had chronic cryptosporidiosis for 18 mo. The female camel had been housed with a male camel in an outdoor pen for 3 yr; the male had no history of cryptosporidiosis. Clinical signs included chronic loose stools, reduced appetite, weight loss, and lethargy. During this period, recurrent intestinal parasitic infections, including gastrointestinal helminths and cryptosporidiosis, were identified from microscopic stages in the feces. Treatment of the helminth infections with anthelmintics only temporarily diminished the number of eggs produced. Treatment of the cryptosporidiosis with an anticoccidial drug failed to resolve that infection. Oocysts averaging 5.9 x 7.9 urn were indistinguishable from those of Cryptosporidium muris or from a bovine isolate that parasitizes the abomasum. Attempts were made to experimentally establish cryptosporidial infections in neonatal calves and mice by oral administration of oocysts. Calves did not shed oocysts resembling C. muris during 17 days of daily fecal examinations. Only those mice examined 12 days or more after inoculation had oocysts in their feces and cryptosporidial stages in gastric glands of the stomach, indicating that the isolate from the camel was very similar, if not identical, to C. muris.