Open AccessCryptosporidium and waterborne outbreaks – A mini review
Author(s) -
Anusha Gururajan,
ika Rajkumari,
Utpala Devi,
Parismita Borah
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
tropical parasitology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.418
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2229-7758
pISSN - 2229-5070
DOI - 10.4103/tp.tp_68_20
Subject(s) - cryptosporidium , transmission (telecommunications) , outbreak , waterborne diseases , environmental health , epidemiology , disease , public health , diarrhea , diarrheal disease , cryptosporidium parvum , biology , medicine , virology , ecology , pathology , computer science , telecommunications , feces
Cryptosporidium spp. is one of the prime agents of infectious diarrhea. Cryptosporidium spp. has been gaining awareness as a pathogen of public health importance in India and other developing countries. Owing to the nature of multiple transmission routes such as person-to-person, animal-to-person, waterborne and foodborne, the epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis in humans is not well known. A deeper understanding of the pathogenesis may lead to better diagnosis and better treatment of the condition. Asymptomatic human and animal transmission illustrates that the spread of infection through the environment is a more plausible explanation, waterborne transmission in particular. The disease burden is underestimated and its global impact is yet to be quantified due to the lack of country-specific estimates. Assessment of the disease itself has been crucial since the morphological indistinguishability, differences in distribution and transmission, and variations in the genotypes.