Cryptosporidium is an intracellular protozoan that infects the gastrointestinal tract of human and other animals. Two main species of this parasite are known to infect human C. hominis and C. parvum with the latter has a zoonotic transmission. This study aimed to genotype the clinical isolates of Cryptosporidium from children with diarrhea. A total of 64 fecal samples were collected from diarrheic children. Cryptosporidial infection was detected using modified acid fast stain. DNA of the parasite was extracted from oocysts of positive fecal samples and nested PCR method was used for TRAP-C2 gene amplification. Restriction
fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was applied for genotyping. Four fecal samples from 64 (0.625%) gave positive result for Cryptosporidium. RFLP-PCR suggested that 3 samples of these related to C. parvum and 1 sample of mixed infection with both C. parvum and C. hominis. From these results it can be concluded that most infections in children with cryptosporidiosis are of bovine origin.
