Survey on Prevalence Rate of Cryptosporidiosis in Sheep and Goats Population of Mahabad City

Cryptosporidium is a small coccidian parasite invaded and replicated within the epithelial cell lining of digestive, respiratory, and conjunctiva organs of vertebrates. Cryptosporidium is an intracellular and exocytoplasmic organism. It has been shown to be an important cause of enterocolitis and self-limited diarrhea in numbers of animals with defect in their immunity system. In this survey, we examined 419 fecal samples including sheep and goats population of Mahabad city, Iran. Forty nine samples of this examined animals (17 samples of sheep and goats are under 1 year old, 11 samples of sheep and goats between 1 and 2 years, 9 samples of sheep and goats between 2 and 3 years, 8 samples between 3 and 4 years old, and 4 samples of sheep and goats are over 4 years) are positive with a view of shedding of oocyst. There was significant statistical relationship between infection rate and sex P<0.05. There was significant statistical relationship between infection rate and age P<0.05. There was significant statistical relationship between infection rate and seasons of the year P<0.05 and there was no significant statistical relationship between sheep population and goat population in Mahabad city (P>0.05).