The protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium sp. has emerged as one of the most important water contaminants, causing waterborne outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases worldwide. In Haiti, cryptosporidiosis is a frequent cause of diarrhoea in children under the age of five years, HIV-infected individuals, and people living in low socioeconomic conditions, mainly due to the consumption of water or food poll...

To better characterize Cryptosporidium in the Potomac River watershed, a PCR-based genotyping tool was used to analyze 64 base flow and 28 storm flow samples from five sites in the watershed. These sites included two water treatment plant intakes, as well as three upstream sites, each associated with a different type of land use. The uses, including urban wastewater, agricultural (cattle) waste...

Real-time PCR has the potential to streamline detection and identification of Cryptosporidium spp. in human clinical samples. In the present article, we report the first such assay to allow not only detection and differentiation of the most common human pathogens, Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum, but also simultaneous amplification of a region of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA ...

OBJECTIVE To quantify microbiology indicators of fecal contamination in the effluents of two waste water treatment plants and in samples collected in several canals in Xochimilco. MATERIAL AND METHODS A cross sectional study was performed. Ten sites, 5 from plant effluents and 5 from canals, were selected for sampling during November and December 2001. Fecal coliforms and enterococci were qua...

Fecal samples examination of 310 individuals with variable gastro-intestinal (GI) disturbances but negative for intestinal parasites or bacterial pathogens, revealed 97 persons positive for infection with coccidian parasites employing modified Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining and Sheather's sucrose floatation technique. Cryptosporidium oocysts alone were detected in 64 (64/97; 66%) cases whereas Cyc...

The present study was undertaken to assess the therapeutic efficacy of oral Nitaxoxanide and Sulphadimidine treatment against Cryptosporidium infection in bovine calves reared under field conditions. A total of 18 diarrhoeic calves naturally infected with Cryptosporidium infection were evaluated. Nitazoxanide was found to be very effective on the basis of disappearance of clinical signs, restor...

Cryptosporidiosis is observed in reptiles with high morbidity and considerable mortality. The objective of this study was to achieve the molecular identification of Cryptosporidium spp. in pet leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) from a breeder colony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Oocysts comparable to those of Cryptosporidium spp. were detected in three geckos with a history of diarrhea, anor...

Understanding the behavior of Cryptosporidium oocysts in the environment is critical to developing improved watershed management practices for protection of the public from waterborne cryptosporidiosis. Analytical methods of improved specificity and sensitivity are essential to this task. We developed a nested PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay that allows detection of a single ...