Why is cryptosporidium increasingly important?

CryptosporidiOSis is largely a water borne emerging zoonosis caused by several species of genus cryptosporidia. The most common human and animal pathogen of these is C. parvum. The disease is usually sporadic and causes watery diarrhoea, malaise, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and debility. The disease is increasingly important because the cysts of this organism can survive up to one year in the environment, and as low as 10 cysts can cause active infection in humans. In addition, routine chlorination of pool or drinking water is unable to kill the organism. Moreover, the organism is ubiquitous and has a very wide range of hosts, including almost all mammals,birds, fish and reptiles. Therefore, it keeps on circulating and recirculating in our environment. Thus, there is always a possible risk of an outbreak in humans and animals. In fact, some such outbreaks have already been reported. Hence, adequate precautions and stringent public health measures are required to safegaurd against this disease, particularly the outbreaks.