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Cryptosporidiosis reservoir in wild brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

J. P. Webster
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford 0X1 3PS
D. W. MacDonald
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford 0X1 3PS
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Summary

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Rats (n = 73) were trapped from nine rural farms around Oxfordshire and faeces were examined using the auramine-phenol and the Modified Ziehl-Neelsen techniques. Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts were detected in the faeces from 46 (63%) rats. This suggests that wild rats represent a risk to human and livestock health through the carriage and transmission of this zoonotic protozoan.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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