Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2011ND243B

Role of agricultural drainage on transport of Cryptosporidium oocysts in North Dakota

Institute: North Dakota
Year Established: 2011 Start Date: 2011-03-01 End Date: 2012-02-29
Total Federal Funds: $5,100 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,202

Principal Investigators: Khan Eakalak, John McEvoy

Abstract: The sources for Cryptosporidium can be human or animal; however, the understanding of a relationship between the source and disease transmission is limited. A study investigating the degree of strain variation exhibited by bovine and human isolates was conducted on the Red River of the North in 1998. Samples were collected from various parts of the watersheds for the presence of Cryptosporidium and identified 20 different isolates, some of which might cause human infections. Cryptosporidium parvum will be used as a model organism in this project for two reasons. First, the bovine strains of C. parvum were the most common isolates observed by Shianna et al. (1998). Secondly, C. parvum is the primary cause of human cryptosporidiosis in the region. The main scope of this project is to investigate the role of agricultural drainage system on transport of Cryptosporidium in North Dakota. The specific objectives of this study are: 1) To investigate adsorption and desorption of Cryptosporidium parvum on the soils obtained from agricultural fields in North Dakota. 2) To determine the effects of agricultural drainage systems on the transport of Cryptosporidium parvum through the soils obtained from agricultural fields in North Dakota by simulating subsurface tile drains in a soil box and 3) To study the transport of Cryptosporidium found in the manure applied to a subsurface drained agricultural field in North Dakota. This research is expected to demonstrate for the first time the role of agricultural drainage system on the transport of Cryptosporidium. It will greatly benefit North Dakota in identifying a possible source of cryptosporidiosis outbreaks.