Isolation of Cryptosporidium parvum Oocyst From Infected Feces

Introduction Cryptosporidium is a genus of Apicomplexa phylum parasites that can cause a respiratory and gastrointestinal illness (cryptosporidiosis) that primarily involves watery diarrhea (intestinal cryptosporidiosis) with or without a persistent cough (respiratory cryptosporidiosis) in both immunocompetent and immunodeficient humans (1-3). A number of Cryptosporidium species infect mammals (1,4). Recently, this protozoan has caused several waterborne outbreaks of diarrhea (5-7). C. parvum has a wide host range and infected animals can be sources of contamination for food and water supplies (7,8). There are many different methods for isolation of C. parvum oocyst and it is important to use rapid technique for producing highly purified C. parvum oocysts (9,10). In the present study different methods were examined and evaluated and then a suitable method for preparation and isolation of C. parvum oocysts from infected feces was defined.