Crytosporidia :: Essays Papers

CrytosporidiaLife HistoryOnce thought to be rare and host specific, Cryptosporidia is now believed to be wiz of the top three diarrheal causing pathogens in the world. Cryptosporidia muris was recognized in 1907 by E. E. Tyzer. Since then twenty dollar bill (20) species of Cryptosporidium have been discovered and named although recently sixteen (16) of those twenty (20) have come under speculation due to recent cross-transmission studies. Cryptosporidia is a protozoan parasite which lives in the intestines and respiratory epitheliums of many types of animals including mammals, birds and reptiles. The disease caused by Cryptosporidia is cognise as Cryptosporidiosis. Cryptosporidia is found all over the world and is transmitted via fecal oral contact. Usually this is due to water contaminated by animal faeces. infect calves excrete up to 10 billion Cryptosporidium oocysts (infectious stage) per day. The infectious dose in humans is only 10-100. However, contaminated food or direct contact with feces can also cause infection. Microbial CharacteristicsCryptosporidia are small coccidian spore-forming protazoans. When in oocyst form they are 4-6 um in size. GRAPH DiseaseCryptosporidia are encountered and transmitted done fecal oral transmission. Once a host ingests an oocyst, sporozoites are released. The sporozoite then can enter the epithelial cells in the small intestine where it will rear into a trophozoite. Inside of a trophozoite, merozoites begin to form. When released, a merozoite can either infect another epithelial cell or it can evolve into a sexual gamete. These gametes then join to form an oocyst and will be excreted in the feces. While in the hosts body, Cryptosporidia carries out its entire life rhythm in the microvilli of the small intestine.The most common symptom of Cryptosporidiosis is watery diarrhea. Other symptoms include- Dehydration - Weight loss - Stomach cramps or pain - pyrexia - Nausea - Vomiting Some people with Cryptosporidiosis will have no symptoms at all. While the small intestine is the site most commonly affected, Cryptosporidium infections could maybe affect other areas of the digestive or the respiratory tract. (CDC) Symptoms usually begin 2-10 days after becoming infected and last 1-2 weeks on average. In immunocompetent individuals, Cryptosporidiosis is not life threatening.