Cryptosporidium and Blastocystis sp infections in wild primates from urban and peri-urban centres in Kenya

Evidence of pathogen cross transmission between humans and primates has raised concerns about the potential impact of zoonotic pathogen transmission on primate and human health, and primate conservation. Cryptosporidium infection has been recorded in many primate species, indicating that they are likely to serve as potential reservoirs for human infections. We conducted molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium species infecting wild primates for insights into the little-known zoonotic transmission cycles in urban and peri-urban centres in Kenya. Rectal swabs were collected from a total of 65 primates, DNA extracted and screened by nested polymerase chain reaction. Overall, 43.08% of all the primates sampled were found positive for Cryptosporidium species with most infections occurring in adults. Positive cases of Cryptosporidium sp infection were distributed across all the study sites. Three of four sampled primate species (Papio anubis, Chlorocebus aethiops, Cercopithecus mitis) w...