Successful hyperimmune bovine colostrum treatment of Savanna monitors (Varanus exanthematicus) infected with Cryptosporidium sp.

Therapy based on the protective passive immunity of hyperimmune bovine colostrum (HBC) (raised against Cryptosporidium parvum in cows) was applied to 4 Savanna monitors (Varanus exanthematicus) with gastric Cryptosporidium sp. infections. All lizards were moderately emaciated, and their fecal and gastric lavage samples contained moderate numbers of Cryptosporidium sp. oocysts. The first 3 of 7 gastric HBC treatments at 1-wk interval each decreased the numbers of oocysts in the fecal and gastric samples to undetectable levels. Neither feces nor lavages of the HBC-treated lizards contained Cryptosporidium sp. oocysts after the HBC therapy, whereas such samples of a single control lizard remained positive for oocysts. Two of the HBC-treated lizards died spontaneously due to metastasized carcinoma and septicemia of unknown etiology, respectively, and 2 lizards treated and killed during the experiment were histologically negative for developmental stages of Cryptosporidium sp. The control lizard died spontaneously of septicemia of unknown etiology and contained developmental stages of Cryptosporidium sp. in the gastric region. The HBC therapy was efficacious in V. exanthematicus and is recommended for lizards with gastric cryptosporidiosis.