Human cryptosporidiosis: a review.

OBJECTIVE

To provide an overview of risk factors, presentation and management of human cryptosporidium infection.

DATA SOURCES: Literature review was obtained through PubMed search.

DATA SELECTION: Published articles on the taxonomy of Cryptosporidium and the epidemiology, clinical presentation and management of cryptosporidiosis were reviewed.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Abstracts and complete articles relevant to the objective were selected, read and analysed to extract information for this article.

CONCLUSIONS

Human cryptosporidiosis is a severe diarrhoeal disease in malnourished children and immuno-compromised adults in whom it confers poor prognosis. Management is mainly supportive as drug therapy remains elusive. Fortunately the prevalence in AIDS patients is declining due to the widespread use of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART).