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

<p><span>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. <i>Cryptosporidium</i></span> 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 <i>Cryptosporidium species </i>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 <i>Cryptosporidium</i> species with most infections occurring in adults. Positive cases of <i>Cryptosporidium sp</i> infection were distributed across all the study sites. Three of four sampled primate species (<i><span>Papio anubis</span></i><span>, <i>Chlorocebus aethiops</i>, <i>Cercopithecus mitis)</i> </span>were positive for <i>Cryptosporidium</i> infections; one <span>(<i>Cercopithecus ascanius schmidts)</i> was not.</span> Sequencing results further revealed the presence of <i>Blastocystis</i> species. <a name="_Hlk93488975">Strong bootstrap support showed a clear clustering of both </a><i>Cryptosporidium</i> and <i>Blastocystis</i> species obtained from this study with human isolates. In conclusion, both parasites have zoonotic potential and our findings highlight the importance of<b> </b>periodic surveillance of wild primate populations for zoonoses.</p>