Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks

The burden of disease caused by the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is unknown. However, routine laboratory diagnosis and surveillance enables the basic epidemiology to be described, changes to be monitored and under-ascertainment to be measured. Although the two main species involved in human di...

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Main Author: Chalmers R.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2008-09-01
Series:Parasite
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2008153372
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author Chalmers R.M.
author_facet Chalmers R.M.
author_sort Chalmers R.M.
collection DOAJ
description The burden of disease caused by the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is unknown. However, routine laboratory diagnosis and surveillance enables the basic epidemiology to be described, changes to be monitored and under-ascertainment to be measured. Although the two main species involved in human disease in developed countries, Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis, have differing epidemiologies and risk factors, national surveillance is generally from isolates identified to the genus level only. Enhancing the data by typing, at least to identify the isolates to the species level, removes some of the noise generated and better identifies the risks than when reports are not species-specific. This level of identification is also valuable for outbreak investigations, but further investigation of the population genetics of C. parvum and C. hominis is required for the development of more readily applied subtyping tools.
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spelling doaj.art-3f8e585523e9425193a0d5cbf937bba32023-12-02T15:53:44ZengEDP SciencesParasite1252-607X1776-10422008-09-0115337237810.1051/parasite/2008153372parasite2008153p372Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaksChalmers R.M.The burden of disease caused by the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is unknown. However, routine laboratory diagnosis and surveillance enables the basic epidemiology to be described, changes to be monitored and under-ascertainment to be measured. Although the two main species involved in human disease in developed countries, Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis, have differing epidemiologies and risk factors, national surveillance is generally from isolates identified to the genus level only. Enhancing the data by typing, at least to identify the isolates to the species level, removes some of the noise generated and better identifies the risks than when reports are not species-specific. This level of identification is also valuable for outbreak investigations, but further investigation of the population genetics of C. parvum and C. hominis is required for the development of more readily applied subtyping tools.http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2008153372Cryptosporidiumdiagnosissurveillanceoutbreaksgenotyping
spellingShingle Chalmers R.M.
Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks
Parasite
Cryptosporidium
diagnosis
surveillance
outbreaks
genotyping
title Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks
title_full Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks
title_fullStr Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks
title_full_unstemmed Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks
title_short Cryptosporidium: from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks
title_sort cryptosporidium from laboratory diagnosis to surveillance and outbreaks
topic Cryptosporidium
diagnosis
surveillance
outbreaks
genotyping
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2008153372
work_keys_str_mv AT chalmersrm cryptosporidiumfromlaboratorydiagnosistosurveillanceandoutbreaks