Evaluation of methods for improved detection of Cryptosporidium spp. in mussels (Mytilus californianus).

Bivalve molluscs concentrate Cryptosporidium oocysts from fecal-contaminated aquatic environments and are therefore useful in monitoring water quality. A real-time TaqMan polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system was developed to allow for large scale quantitative detection of Cryptosporidium spp. in mussels (Mytilus californianus). The TaqMan sensitivity and specificity were compared to conventional PCR and direct immunofluorescent antibody (DFA) assays, with and without immunomagnetic separation (IMS), to identify the best method for parasite detection in mussel hemolymph, gill washings and digestive glands. TaqMan PCR and two conventional PCR systems all detected 1 or more oocysts spiked into 1 ml hemolymph samples. The minimum oocyst detection limit in spiked 5 ml gill wash and 1 g digestive gland samples tested by TaqMan PCR and DFA was 100 oocysts, with a 1 log(10) improvement when samples were first processed by IMS. For tank exposed mussels, TaqMan and conventional PCR methods detected C. parvum in <5% of hemolymph samples. No gill washings from these same mussels tested positive by TaqMan PCR or DFA analysis even with IMS concentration. All methods detected the highest prevalence of C. parvum-positive samples in digestive gland tissues of exposed mussels. In conclusion, the most sensitive method for the detection of C. parvum in oocyst-exposed mussels was IMS concentration with DFA detection: 80% of individual and 100% of pooled digestive gland samples tested positive. TaqMan PCR was comparable to conventional PCR for detection of C. parvum oocysts in mussels and additionally allowed for automated testing, high throughput, and semi-quantitative results.

Clams (Corbicula fluminea) as bioindicators of fecal contamination with Cryptosporidium and Giardia spp. in freshwater ecosystems in California.

This study evaluated clams as bioindicators of fecal protozoan contamination using three approaches: (i) clam tissue spiking experiments to compare several detection techniques; (ii) clam tank exposure experiments to evaluate clams that had filtered Cryptosporidium oocysts from inoculated water under a range of simulated environmental conditions; (iii) sentinel clam outplanting to assess the distribution and magnitude of fecal contamination in three riverine systems in California. Our spiking and tank experiments showed that direct fluorescent antibody (DFA), immunomagnetic separation (IMS) in combination with DFA, and PCR techniques could be used to detect Cryptosporidium in clam tissues. The most analytically sensitive technique was IMS concentration with DFA detection of oocysts in clam digestive gland tissues, which detected 10 oocysts spiked into a clam digestive gland 83% of the time. In the tank experiment, oocyst dose and clam collection time were significant predictors for detecting Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in clams. In the wild clam study, Cryptosporidium and Giardia were detected in clams from all three study regions by IMS-DFA analysis of clam digestive glands, with significant variation by sampling year and season. The presence of C. parvum DNA in clams from riverine ecosystems was confirmed with PCR and DNA sequence analysis.