Mobile Site ›
Print Page E-mail Page

Detection of Intestinal Parasites



Subscribe

Receive notification when new Hot Topics are published:

Cryptosporidium spp

Slide 31

March 2009

Now let’s move on to Cryptosporidium, the other important parasite commonly detected in feces in the United States.

Like Giardia, Cryptosporidium is also a microscopic Protozoan parasite. Although it was initially thought to be a coccidian parasite, it is now known to be closely related to primitive organisms called Gregarines.

There are 2 major human pathogenic species:  Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis. There are other Cryptosporidium species as well and these less commonly infect humans. The different species can’t be differentiated by morphology alone and require molecular techniques for identification. However, the treatment is the same for the various species.

Cryptosporidium spp

 


Jump to section:

Key