Seroepidemiology—The Key to Crypto Surveillance

This article discusses the difficulty in determining the exact amount of cryptosporidiosis that occurs in the United States. Because it has such a low fatality rate, and because there is no treatment for it, definitive diagnostic tests are rarely performed and cryptosporidiosis thus avoids passive detection. The authors advocate an active surveillance system for cryptosporidiosis based on seroepidemiology. They encourage anonymous national serological testing for Cryptosporidium in children and other representative groups as an important component in understanding endemic cryptosporidiosis. A study of cryptosporidiosis conducted in Houston, Texas, with human volunteers is given as an example.