Failure to differentiate Cryptosporidium parvum from C. meleagridis based on PCR amplification of eight DNA sequences.

ABSTRACT In order to determine the specificities of PCR-based assays used for detecting Cryptosporidium parvum DNA, eight pairs of previously described PCR primers targeting six distinct regions of the Cryptosporidium genome were evaluated for the detection of C. parvum , the agent of human cryptosporidiosis, and C. muris , C. baileyi , and C. meleagridis , three Cryptosporidium species that infect birds or mammals but are not considered to be human pathogens. The four Cryptosporidium species were divided into two groups: C. parvum and C. meleagridis , which gave the same-sized fragments with all the reactions, and C. muris and C. baileyi , which gave positive results with primer pairs targ…