The Need for a Better Understanding of the Transmission of Cryptosporidium in Urban Areas

HANCKE, DIEGO;; SUAREZ O.V

Austin Tropical medicine and care

Austin Publishing Group

Año: 2019

1179-7282

Cryptosporidium is an intracellular protozoan parasite that infects the small intestine causing damage to the intestinal epithelium and disrupts absorption and barrier function, leading to mild-to-severe diarrhea (Khalil et al. 2018). Cryptosporidium has a worldwide distribution infecting humans and animals but in low and middle income countries, cryptosporidiosis is much more prevalent (Bouzid, Kintz, and Hunter 2018). However, the burden of this parasitosis is underrated. According to Khalil et al. (2018), Cryptosporidium infection was the fifth leading cause of diarrhoeal mortality in children younger than 5 years in 2016 and the estimation of the burden of Cryptosporidium is 2.5 times higher than previously reported by accounting childhood health beyond acute illness by decreasing growth. In addition, the co-infection of Cryptosporidium with other intestinal pathogens and respiratory cryptosporidiosis are other neglected topics (Abdoli, Ghaffarifar, and Pirestani 2018). There is currently no vaccine available, and the only approved treatment, the drug nitazoxanide, is not highly effective in immunocompromised individuals (Vijayan and Kaushansky 2019)