Cryptosporidiosis: You Are At Risk

1. Cryptosporidiosis:You Are At Risk By: Sarah Ruth Davis Pollution Control Planning 11/29/2007

2. Presentation Outline • Introduction • Life Cycle • History • Emergence and Reemergence Factors • Who is At Risk? • Risk Reducers • Questions

3. Introduction to Cryptosporidiosis • One of the most common waterborne diseases • Gastrointestinal disease • Caused by Cryptosporidium pathogen • Fecal-oral transmission • Most common are C.parvum and C. hominis • Can survive with or without a host

4. Cryptosporidiosis Life Cycle

5. History of Cryptosporidiosis • 1910 Ernest Edward Tyzzer found in gastric glands of mice • First cases of humans reported 1976 and 1982 • First reported out break in Texas 1984 • Second largest outbreak 1987 Carrolton, Georgia • Not widely recognized till 1993 following Milwaukee outbreak

6. Emergence and Reemergence Factors • 10-30 oocysts found to cause infection • Found in soil, food, water, and on surfaces • Infection by swallowing • Disease spread several ways • Zoonotic • Environmental • Person-to-person

7. Who is at Risk? • Everyone is at risk • Young Children • Pregnant Women • People with weak Immune systems • Swimmers, Campers, Hikers, International Travelers, Child Care Workers, etc.

8. Risk Reducers • Wash your hands • Practice safe sex • Crypto can’t be seen on the skin • Spread through anal-oral path, even if excellent hygiene • Avoid touching animals and their stool • Get pets tested • Avoid swallowing water in public swimming areas and hot tubs • Wash and cook food thoroughly • Heat kills • Avoid unpasteurized dairy products • Wash fruits and vegetables with filtered water • Drink safe water • Avoid drinking unfiltered tap water • All Crypto outbreaks in America were in areas that met current federal standards for acceptable water quality

9. Questions??