Abstract:
Cryptosporidiosis is a protozoal infection that can come from water, or be spread from person to person. Individual protozoa are very resistant to the environment and disinfectants. How cryptosporidium causes infection is unknown, but it is known that large adult animals that commonly become infected do not get sick; small animals such as mice do not get symptomatic infection so there are no disease models to study in the lab. It is not known how many people are carrying the organism, however, in people with AIDS, 10 to 20 percent appear to be infected and testing for cryptosporidiosis is nearly impossible. It is also unknown what the immune system responds to in order to make antibodies to cryptosporidium. There have been outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis in the water supply of cities with public water filtering systems, such as Milwaukee in 1993. Boiling water for at least 1 minute kills the cryptosporidial oocysts if any exist, and while some bottled water claims to be cryptosporidium free, no data exist to prove it. No really good treatment exists for cryptosporidiosis, but Azithromycin is better absorbed than other drugs studied; it can be obtained directly from Pfizer through their compassionate use program. A new study using IGX is being conducted using chicken immunoglobulins which fight cryptosporidiosis. Participants drink irradiated eggnog five times per day. Participants must be HIV positive, have cryptosporidiosis, and not have other intestinal infection. The Network can be contacted for more information on this study.
Keywords: Animal Antiprotozoal Agents/THERAPEUTIC USE Azithromycin/THERAPEUTIC USE *Cryptosporidiosis/COMPLICATIONS/DRUG THERAPY/PARASITOLOGY/ THERAPY Disease Models, Animal Human HIV Seropositivity/COMPLICATIONS Immunoglobulins/THERAPEUTIC USE Immunotherapy *Water Microbiology NEWSLETTER ARTICLE 951030
M95A0924
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
