• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.533-539
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• 2007

Cell culture infectivity assay using HCT-8 cell was combined with most-probable-number technique to evaluate the inactivation of Cryptosporidium parvum by various disinfectants, including chlorine, ozone, and UV light. The assay was demonstrated to be as sensitive as animal infectivity assay, which has been considered the "gold standard" for assessing Cryptosporidium oocyst infectivity, and a valuable tool to evaluate inactivation of C. parvum by disinfectants. Bench-scale inactivation study showed that at the condition of $5^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0, CT value of $1,250mg{\cdot}min/L$ by chlorine and $16mg{\cdot}min/L$ by ozone were required to achieve approximately 1.0 log inactivation of C. parvum, suggesting that even ozone could not be sufficient to inactivate C, parvum at low. temperature. Unlike chlorine and ozone, UV light is very effective to inactivate C. parvum, regardless of temperature. A UV light dose of 2 $mJ/cm^2$ provided at least 3 log inactivation of C. parvum.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.419-427
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• 2018

This study aimed to develop a new multiplex real-time PCR detection method for 3 species of waterborne protozoan parasites (Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia, and Cyclospora cayetanensis) identified as major causes of traveler's diarrhea. Three target genes were specifically and simultaneously detected by the TaqMan probe method for multiple parasitic infection cases, including Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein for C. parvum, glutamate dehydrogenase for G. lamblia, and internal transcribed spacer 1 for C. cayetanensis. Gene product 21 for bacteriophage T4 was used as an internal control DNA target for monitoring human stool DNA amplification. TaqMan probes were prepared using 4 fluorescent dyes, $FAM^{TM}$, $HEX^{TM}$, $Cy5^{TM}$, and CAL Fluor $Red^{(R)}$ 610 on C. parvum, G. lamblia, C. cayetanensis, and bacteriophage T4, respectively. We developed a novel primer-probe set for each parasite, a primer-probe cocktail (a mixture of primers and probes for the parasites and the internal control) for multiplex real-time PCR analysis, and a protocol for this detection method. Multiplex real-time PCR with the primer-probe cocktail successfully and specifically detected the target genes of C. parvum, G. lamblia, and C. cayetanensis in the mixed spiked human stool sample. The limit of detection for our assay was $2{\times}10$ copies for C. parvum and for C. cayetanensis, while it was $2{\times}10^3$ copies for G. lamblia. We propose that the multiplex real-time PCR detection method developed here is a useful method for simultaneously diagnosing the most common causative protozoa in traveler's diarrhea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.293-297
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• 2009

Improved methods for detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts in environmental and clinical samples are urgently needed to improve detection of cryptosporidiosis. We compared the sensitivity of 7 PCR primer sets for detection of Cryptosporidium parvum. Each target gene was amplified by PCR or nested PCR with serially diluted DNA extracted from purified C. parvum oocysts. The target genes included Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein (COWP), small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA), and random amplified polymorphic DNA. The detection limit of the PCR method ranged from $10^3$ to $10^4$ oocysts, and the nested PCR method was able to detect $10^0$ to $10^2$ oocysts. A second-round amplification of target genes showed that the nested primer set specific for the COWP gene proved to be the most sensitive one compared to the other primer sets tested in this study and would therefore be useful for the detection of C. parvum.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.215-224
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• 1996

actin and some actin binding proteins such as tropomyosin, α-actinin and troponin T were localized by simultaneous double immunogold labeling in several developmental stages of Cryptosporidium parvum. All of the observed developmental stages have many paricles of tropomyosin and actin around pellicle and cytoplasm. Tropomyosin was labeled much more than the actin when these two proteins were labeled simultaneously. And α-actinin was labeled mostly in the pellicle, but troponin T labeling weas very rarely observed. From this study it was suggested that tropomyosin seemed to be one of the major proteins of C. parvum, so it must be playing important roles in C. parvum.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.43 no.3 s.135
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• pp.111-114
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• 2005

The present study investigated the prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium parvum as a cause of diarrhea. We examined 942 stools of unidentified reasons occurring in patients in whom no immunosuppression had been detected. We examined the stools for Cryptosporidium parvum via modified acid-fast staining. The clinical records of all of the positive patients were then analyzed. Nine ($1\%$) of the stools among the 942 diarrheal patients were positive for C. parvum. The positive rate in the males was $1.1\%$ (6/522) and the positive rate of the females was $0.7\%$ (3/420). Age distribution revealed that the highest positive rates were in patients in their sixties, with a positive rate of $2.5\%$ (4/158). In the clinical tests, levels of c-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and neutrophil proportions were normally increased in the peripheral blood, whereas the lymphocyte proportion exhibited a tendency towards decrease. The pathological findings were compatible with an inflammatory reaction in the host.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.155-164
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• 1995

The location of actin and myosin of the several stages of Cwptosporinium parvum was observed. The tissue antigen of C. pcruum was prepared through immunosuppression of IgG mice with Depomedrol . The thin sectioned specimens, which were incubated with the IgG fraction of the rabbit polyclonal antibodies raised against chicken back muscle actin and bovine uterus myosin, were treated with 10 nm gold-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG, Electrodense particles were located mainly on the pellicles of all observed developmental stages of the parasites. The number of actin gold particles in the cytoplasm increased when the parasite was dividing actively as in case of meronts. Especially in macrogametocytes, a lot of actin and myosin particles were synthesized and storaged as amilopectin-like bodies. There were many actin gold particles along the microspikes of cytoplasmic membranes in various developmental stages. The actin and myosin observed in this study may play important roles to control the shape of the parasites and movement of cytoplasmic membranes as cvtoskeletal proteins.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.257-261
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• 2000

This study was focused on the effects of microfilament inhibitor, Cytochalasin D (CD) on the invasiveness of sporozoites of Cryptosporidiun spp. into the host cells. MDCK and AGS cell lines were used as host cells for C. parvum and C. muris, respectively. When MDCK cells were pretreated with CD for 1 hr before inoculation of the sporozoites, C. parvum infection was significantly inhibited when compared to the control cells. These inhibitory effects of CD on the rate of infection were dose-dependent. In addition, C. muris infection was hampered when AGS cell lines were pretreated with CD. However, the capability of invasiveness of the sporozoites into the host cells was not greatly influenced by the pretreatment of sporozoites with CD before infection. These results suggest that microfilaments of host cells, rather than parasites, play an important role for the invasion of Cryptosporidium spp.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.379-383
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• 1996

Cryptosporidium parvum causes a life-threatening diarrhea in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients. THe sporozoite stage of C. parvum has been known to be a target in treating cryptosporidiosis in AIDS patients as it is an extracellular stage. A sporozoite was ultrastructurally observed. It has a creascent shape with a rounded posterior end and a tapering body. The compact nucleus was located at the posterior end. A monoclonal antibody was produced, which recognized a 43 kDa of sporozoite antigens in a western blot analysis and showed the surface labeling in immunofluorescence.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2004

Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts were isolated from a child suffering from acute gastroenteritis and successfully passaged in a calf and mice (designated hereafter SNU-H1) in the Republic of Korea; its molecular genotype has been analyzed. The GAG microsatellite region was amplified by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), with a 238 base pair product, which is commonly displayed in C. parvum. The isolate was shown to be a mixture of the genotypes 1 (anthroponotic) and 2 (zoonotic). To study its infectivity in animals, 2 calves and 3 strains of mice were infected with the SNU-H1; in these animals, the propagation of both genotypes was successful. In immunosup-pressed (ImSP) BALB/c and C57BU6 mice the number of oocysts decreased after day 10 post-infection (PI); but in ImSP ICR mice, they remained constant until day 27 PI. The results show that both the C. parvum genotypes 1 and 2 can be propagated in calves and ImSP mice.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.1 s.137
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• pp.27-33
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• 2006

Two species of Cryptosporidium are known to infect man; C. hominis which shows anthroponotic transmission between humans, and C. parvum which shows zoonotic transmission between animals or between animals and man. In this study, we focused on identifying genotypes of Cryptosporidium prevalent among inhabitants and domestic animals (cattle and goats), to elucidate transmittal routes in a known endemic area in Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea. The existence of Cryptosporidium oocysts was confirmed using a modified ZiehlNeelsen stain. Human infections were found in 7 $(25.9\%)$ of 27 people examined. Cattle cryptosporidiosis cases constituted 7 $(41.2\%)$ of 17 examined, and goat cases 3 $(42.9\%)$ of 7 examined. Species characterizations were performed on the small subunit of the rRNA gene using both PCR-RFLP and sequence analysis. Most of the human isolates were mixtures of C. hominis and C. parvum genotypes and similar PCR-RFLP patterns were observed in cattle and goat isolates. However, sequence analyses identified only C. hominis in all isolates examined. The natural infection of cattle and goats with C. hominis is a new and unique finding in the present study. It is suggested that human cryptosporidiosis in the studied area is caused by mixtures of C. hominis and C. parvum oocysts originating from both inhabitants and domestic animals.