An Outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis in a Day-care Center in Georgia

Abstract

Diarrhea among the 11 million children attending day-care centers in the United States is common, but infection control of enteric pathogens in the day-care center setting remains a challenge. In August 1989, an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis was investigated at a day-care center in Georgia. A total of 49% (39/79) of children and 13% (3/23) of staff members who submitted stool specimens were found to be infected with Cryptosporidium. A total of 77% (30/39) of infected children had mild-to-moderate diarrhea (median duration, 5 days). Children were at highest risk if they were less than age 36 months, in diapers, and not toilet trained. Serial stool specimens were collected from 12 infected children. After diarrhea had ceased, oocyst shedding continued in all children for a mean duration of 16.5 days. It is concluded that the prevalence of asymptomatic infections and the duration of shedding after the end of symptoms may previously have been underestimated. Cohorting or exclusion from the day-care center of children who are asymptomatic shedders is not practical, and the management of cryptosporidiosis in day-care centers remains a major challenge.

Evaluation of ColorPAC Giardia/Cryptosporidium Rapid Assay and ProSpecT Giardia/Cryptosporidium Microplate Assay for Detection of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in Fecal Specimens

“…Another important intestinal parasite, particularly for patients with advanced AIDS, which may be transmitted through contaminated water is Cryptosporidium parvum (3,5,14,19,25). Although sporadic disease is more common for these infections, both G. lamblia and C. parvum have also been shown to cause outbreaks involving day care centers (24,31).…”

Acute infant diarrhea associated to cryptosporidium sp., in the city of Recife

“…foi identificado nas fezes de 6,4% (10/156) das crianças diarréicas e em nenhuma criança (0/80) do grupo-controle (p=0.017). Em cinco casos ele esteve associado à presença de outro enteropató-geno (EPEC-uma criança; C. jejuni -duas crianças; mundo subdesenvolvido quanto do desenvolvido, de modo especial entre indivíduos institucionalizados 1,5,11,14,17,19,21 .…”

“…Os percentuais mais elevados têm sido observados entre crianças procedentes de famílias de baixas condições sócio-econômicas, nas quais a contaminação ambiental é elevada. Nos países desenvolvidos, ele é descrito com maior freqüência entre pacientes institucionalizados 1,17 .…”

“…Os percentuais mais elevados têm sido observados entre crianças procedentes de famílias de baixas condições sócio-econômicas, nas quais a contaminação ambiental é elevada. Nos países desenvolvidos, ele é descrito com maior freqüência entre pacientes institucionalizados 1,17 .O quadro diarréico é autolimitado na maioria das crianças infectadas, mas pode apresentar um curso prolongado, principalmente entre crianças desnutridas 13 .A maioria dos estudos realizados no Brasil 2,12,20 refere-se apenas aos percentuais de identificação do protozoário nas fezes de crianças diarréicas e assintomáticas. É nosso objetivo descrever as características e o curso clínico da diarréia Cryptosporidium-positiva em um grupo de lactentes na cidade do Recife.…”

Cryptosporidiosis - From Epidemiology to Treatment

“…infects humans and a wide variety of animals and because of the ubiquitous presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in the environment, humans can acquire Cryptosporidium infections through several transmission routes (Clark, 1999;Griffiths, 1998). In pediatric and elderly populations, especially in day care centers and nursing homes, person-to-person transmission probably plays a major role in the spread of Cryptosporidium infections Neill et al, 1996;Tangermann, 1991). In rural areas, zoonotic infections via direct contact with farm animals have been reported many times, but the relative importance of direct zoonotic transmission of cryptosporidiosis is not entirely clear (Miron et al, 1991).…”