This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in a colony of adult rabbits, of both sexes, intensively managed on a Universitys farm in Abeokuta, Ogun state, southwest Nigeria. This was achieved by assaying for Cryptosporidium coproantigens in stools of 27 adult rabbits by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cryptosporidium coproantigens were detected in 92.6% (25/27) of the rabbits with a higher prevalence, 95.0% (19/20), being recorded in does than the 85.7% (6/7) recorded in bucks. The results of this study showed that Cryptosporidium infection was highly prevalent in adult rabbits reared on the farm, thus highlighting the need for more prevalence studies to be carried out in rabbits in other parts of Nigeria.
Key words: Cryptosporidium, ELISA, Nigeria, rabbits
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