Cryptosporidiosis

(Cryptosporidium spp.)
Group 3:

Victoria Presto Richelle Angelie Uclusin

Ma. Teresa Barcarse Stephanie Dato
Ma. Danyka Arellano Princess Pimentel
 Cryptosporidiosis
(Cryptosporidium spp.)

01 02 03 04 Describe the What was the

What food pathogen that How do you think result of the
caused people to get the pathogen case/outbreak?
caused the sick. What is its could have gotten Did anyone get
outbreak? scientific name? into the food in sick? Did anyone
What kinds of food the first place? die?
can it be found?
 1. What food caused the outbreak?
● According to Journal of Biomedical Research, infection is spread by
environmentally resistant spores that primarily contaminate drinking water
and occasionally food sources, which may cause significant outbreaks of
diarrhea that generally lasts less than 2 w in immunocompetent individuals.

● Cryptosporidium infections may be zoonotic or anthroponotic. Most of the

major outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis have been attributed to contaminated
drinking water, but oocysts have been recovered from food, such as fresh
vegetables and seafood, and person-to-person transmission may also be
possible
2. Describe the pathogen that caused people to get
sick. What is its scientific name? What kinds of
food can it be found?
The genus Cryptosporidium is a member of the phylum Apicomplexa, which
includes in its rank of parasitic protists other significant human pathogens such as
Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Isospora, Sarcocystis, Cyclospora and Babesia. Like the
other members of this phylum, Cryptosporidium has a complex life cycle with both
asexual and sexual stages and invasive stages that have the characteristic apical
complex from which the phylum name is derived. Cryptosporidium species has been
found to infect mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The two species that
most commonly infect humans are Cryptosporidium hominis (C. hominis) and C.
parvum, and while the former species seems to be primarily limited to humans, the
latter has a wide range of hosts, including most major domestic livestock animal
species.
Most of the major outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis have been attributed to
contaminated drinking water, but oocysts have been recovered from food, such as
fresh vegetables and seafood, and person-to-person transmission may also be
3. How do you think the pathogen could have
gotten into the food in the first place?
● Cryptosporidium. Cryptosporidium, or "Crypto" for short, can be found in
water, food, soil, or on surfaces or dirty hands that have been
contaminated with the feces of humans or animals infected with the
parasite.
● I think the pathogen could have gotten into the food by direct
transmission. For example, if a person touches a surface or object (e.g.,
toys, bathroom fixtures, changing tables, diaper pails) that has been
contaminated by poop from an infected person, he or she will later
touch food and the pathogen will be transmitted to the food and it will
also be contaminated.
4. What was the result of the case/outbreak? Did
anyone get sick? Did anyone die?
● The largest cryptosporidiosis outbreak reported to date in the USA
occurred in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1993 when over 403,000
individuals were sickened out of a potentially exposed population of 1.6
million. Longterm, the number of deaths resulting from
cryptosporidiosis approximated 54, mostly AIDS patients. The outbreak
was initially thought to be due to a failure in the drinking water
purification system that occurred after runoff containing feces from
infected cattle entered the system.
● However, subsequent genotyping of Milwaukee wastewater indicated
that the predominant species was C. hominis (allele 1b), suggesting that
the 1993 outbreak was anthroponotic rather than zoonotic.
 Reference/s
Leitch GJ, He Q. Cryptosporidiosis-an overview. J Biomed Res. 2012
Jan;25(1):1-16. doi: 10.1016/S1674-8301(11)60001-8. Epub 2012 Feb 21.
PMID: 22685452; PMCID: PMC3368497.