Efficacy of an immuno-magnetic separation system for recovering Cryptosporidium oocysts from soils

Studies were conducted to determine the efficacy of the commercially availa ble immuno-magnetic system by Dynal (TM) to recover C. parvum oocysts from silty clay, sandy clay loam and clay soils. Each soil type was spiked with known numbers of oocysts and their recovery using percoll-sucrose gradient centrifugation in combination with immuno-magnetic separation system was ev aluated. ne recoveries varied significantly. The silty clay loam soil had t he highest recovery ranging between 91% and 26%, while the sandy clay loam had the lowest recovery ranging between 30% and 2%. ne results indicate tha t though the Dynal (TM) IMS system is capable of recovering oocysts from so ils, the recovery efficiencies can vary significantly.