Molecular Characterization and Phylogenic Analysis of Cryptosporidium Species Isolated From Cattle in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq

Diarrhea is globally reported to be a common and major disease in newborn calves. According to the World Health Organization, it can cause a massive economic loss in the cattle industry. Thirty preweaning calves were collected. Calveswere taken from four different places in Sulaimaniyah province (Kalar, Halbjai Shahid, Khurmal, and Sharazor) between September 2022 and March 2023. The animals were divided into 3 age groups: (5–30 days), (31–60 days), and (61–90 days). Rectal swabs were being collected directly from diarrheal calves into plastic specimens for PCR testing. A fragment of the SSU rRNA gene was amplified using the Taq DNA master mix (Addbio, Republic of Korea). Phylogenetic trees were constructed based on a partial fragment of the SSU rRNA gene. The results showed that the higher infection rate (25%) appeared in calves less than one month old, while the lower infection rate (10%) appeared in the two months old and (12%) in three months old calves. In addition, the two sequences (BA/1/2022 and BA/2/2022) were C. ryanae, while the other sequence (BA/3/2022) was identified as C. parvum. This study reported the occurrence of Cryptosporidium species for the first time in four different places in Sulaimaniyah province, northern Iraq, using molecular techniques.