Cryptosporidiosis refers to that condition that is brought about by the “spore-forming protozoan known as Cryptosporidia” (“Health and Medicine Encyclopedia” Para1). When talking about protozoa, this is a group micro-organisms that infect the intestines of a human being. The initial discovery of these protozoa made in the year 1976 as being a causal agent for human diseases.
Transmission of Cryptosporidia is carried out through feces of an individual who may be infected as well as of animals. They are transmitted in the form of cysts. They can stay in water for several weeks and when a person ingests them, they start exhibiting signs after they have stayed in the intestinal tract up to the maturity age.
The common infection sources include people and sources of water supply. The water supply sources are contaminated by the animal feces. There was a case in Milwaukee, in the year 1993, where there was an outbreak of this disease and close to a half a million people were infected. This infection was attributed to infestation water supply sources by the cysts. The organisms have very great resistance to the ordinary chemicals for water treatment and may not be entirely removed by the filtration process.
Many of the people who experience the symptoms of this disease are those people who have had their immune system altered. Such people may be people who are suffering form diseases like cancer and AIDS (Heyworth 701). “Nevertheless, even people who may be having healthy immunity may also feel symptoms as it was the case in the Milwaukee outbreak” (Vakil, 19)
Causes and symptoms
Development of the cysts while they are in the intestinal tract and also in the bile ducts takes about four days after they have entered the body. Water supplies facilitate their spread but transmission can also be caused by human contact. In some cases, transmission is carried through sexual conduct.
Quite a number of people may be infected without experiencing any kind of illness. However,” the main symptom for this infection is diarrhea which is mostly watery. Other symptoms may include; dehydration, low-grade fever, nausea, and abdominal cramps” (“Health and Medicine Encyclopedia” Para4).
Among the people that have an immune system that is normal, this disease remains in the body for a period of about ten days. On the other hand, for those people who have an immune system that has been altered, they are affected in a different way. They experience diarrhea that turns out to be chronic and which can turn out to be fatal.
The ordinary infection consequence of this illness is undernourishment as well as lack of moisture. In almost about a fifth of the total number of patients having AIDS, there occurs infection of the bile duct. The infection of the bile duct brings about symptoms that are almost the same as those of attacks of the gallbladder. Among those individuals having bile duct infection, 80% of them are killed by the disease.
Treatment
The first and foremost objective of giving treatment for this infection is to ensure avoidance of dehydration. There may be need for “Oral Rehydration Solution” (ORS) (“Health and Medicine Encyclopedia” Para 7). According to “Health and Medicine Encyclopedia” “medications used to treat diarrhea by decreasing intestinal motility (Anti-Motility Agents), such as loperamide or diphenoxylate, are also useful, but should only be used with the advice of a physician” (Para 7).
The treatment that is targeted at Cryptosporidia in a direct manner cannot be fully effective and it hardly kills this protozoan. The widely used medication is use of paromomycin. However, at the present day, evaluation is being carried out of other medications.
Prevention
Among the most appropriate ways of preventing infection of this disease is to bring down the level of exposure to the germs from those people who may be infected and also animals. It is recommended that in such places as the day care centers, there is need to have proper methods of washing hands (“Health and Medicine Encyclopedia”).
Prognosis
Among those people whose immune system has not been altered, this disease does not affect them seriously. In case such people are infected, the only main measure that needs to be taken is to replace the fluids in the body. But on the other hand, those individuals whose “immune system” has been altered suffer for an extended time. Such drugs as paromomycin among others have actually enabled realization of improvement in more than 50 percent of the total number of those people who have been treated. However, there has been a problem since a number of organisms offer resistance to drugs. More so, in some cases, infection occurring again even after treatment.
References
Minnesota Department of Health, Causes and symptoms of Salmonellosis, 2009. Web.
“Salmonella”, emedicinehealth. eMedicineHealth, 2010. Web.
“Salmonellosis/Salmonella Enteritis”, medindia. Medindia, 2010. Web.
Vakil, Nimish B., et al. “Biliary Cryptosporidiosis in HIV-Infected People after the Waterborne Outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee.” New England Journal of Medicine 334, no. 1 (1996): 19.
Health and Medicine Encyclopedia, Cryptosporidiosis, Definition, Description, Causes and symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis, Prevention, 2010. Web.
Heyworth, Martin F. “Parasitic Diseases in Immunocompromised Hosts.” Gastrointestinal Clinics of North America: Parasitic Diseases of the Liver and Intestines (1996): 691-707.