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Detection of Intestinal Parasites



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Epidemiology

Slide 22

March 2009

Giardiasis is endemic in many developing countries. In these situations, there are Many infected young children who excrete a large number of infectious cysts and they are symptomatic. Through repeated exposure, Adults are thought to develop some degree of immunity and therefore, do not experience clinical disease. The main route of transmission in this setting is the Fecal-oral pathway.

In contrast, Epidemics of giardiasis occur all over the world, including many resource rich countries. In this setting, there is not a continued exposure from childhood, and so immunity does not develop in adults. As a result, all ages affected and many have symptomatic disease. Transmission is usually by contaminated food or person-to-person spread. In addition, there have been many large outbreaks, most of which are waterborne. In the U.S., Giardiasis reporting is not required by all states, so it is difficult to know the true incidence of disease.

However, the CDC estimates that there are 2 million cases per year in the United States.

Epidemiology

 


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