An immunocompetent rat model of infection with Cryptosporidium species: Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum

Abstract A major obstacle to developing vaccines against cryptosporidiosis, a serious diarrheal disease of children in developing countries, is the lack of rodent models essential to identify and screen protective immunogens. Rodent models commonly used for drug discovery are unsuitable for vaccine development because they either are purposefully immunodeficient or immunosuppressed. Here, we show an immunocompetent intratracheal (IT) rat model infected with sporozoites was found to be susceptible to Cryptosporidium parvum and to Cryptoporidium hominis - the primary cause of human cryptosporidiosis. Here we describe the development and optimization of an IT rat model suitable for the evaluation of vaccine candidates.