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Page No. : 71-74

ABSTRACT

E. coli is considered as ubiquitous bacterium and act as indicator organism of faecal contamination; imparting gastro-intestinal upset in the infected animals, mainly characterised by diarrhoea. Cryptosporidium is another important zoonotic parasite for causing diarrhoea of higher intensity mostly in younger animals. Though prevalence studies on E. coli strains in various hosts have been done in U! ar Pradesh but studies of Cryptosporidium are limited. Besides, as both the organisms primarily cause diarrhoea, therefore the present study has been designed to detect the concurrent infection of both the pathogens in 112 dairy calves ranging from a-day old to one month age including apparently healthy and diarrhoeic animals from organised sector of farming. Cultural method has been employed to perceive the bacterial presence whereas modifi ed Ziehl–Neelsen staining has been carried out to detect the parasitic counterpart. Overall, 72.3% and 30.35% of the samples found positive for E. coli and Cryptosporidium spp. respectively. Among the age-group analysis, trend of decreasing positivity found with the increase in the age of the animals whereas diarrhoeic patients revealed higher positivity for both the pathogens as both causes diarrhoea as the crucial clinical symptom.
Keywords: Cryptosporidium, diarrhoeic dairy calves, E. coli, mZN staining