Cryptosporidiosis is considered to be a crucial zoonotic disease caused by worldwide distributing parasitic protozoa called Cryptosporidium spp. Cryptosporidiosis becomes a major public health and veterinary concern by affecting in human and various host range species of animals. Essentially, its importance of infection is increasing because of the high incidence in young children, immunocompromised persons, or immunodeficiency syndrome patients, especially in HIV/AIDS, and it is also one of the most causes of mortality in those patients who infected with Cryptosporidium spp. as well as young animals. All domestic animal, livestock, wildlife, and human can be potential reservoirs that contribute Cryptosporidium spp. to food and surface waters and transmitted to other hosts through fecal-oral route. The oocyst stage of Cryptosporidium spp. can remain infective and resistant to various environmental exposure and also resistant to many general disinfecting agents including chlorination which normally used in water treatment. Therefore, the understanding of these zoonotic pathogens is very essential in both animal and human health. This review focuses on the biology, life cycle, transmission, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of this protozoan infection to emphasize and remind as the significant One Health problem.

Keywords: cryptosporidiosis, diarrhea, waterborne disease, zoonosis.

1. Bamaiyi, P. and Redhuan, N. (2017) Prevalence and risk factors for cryptosporidiosis: A global, emerging, neglected zoonosis. Asian Biomed., 10: 309-325. [Crossref]

2. Karanis, P., Kourenti, C. and Smith, H. (2007) Waterborne transmission of protozoan parasites: A worldwide review of outbreaks and lesson learnt. J. Water Health, 5: 1-38. [Crossref]

3. Baldursson, S. and Karanis, P. (2011) Waterborne transmission of protozoan parasites: Review of worldwide outbreaks-An update 2004-2010. Water Res., 45: 6603-6614. [Crossref]

4. Burnet, J.B., Penny, C., Ogorzaly, L. and Cauchie, H.M. (2014) Spatial and temporal distribution of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in a drinking water resource: Implications for monitoring and risk assessment. Sci. Total Environ., 472: 1023-1035. [Crossref]

5. Fayer, R., Trout, J.M., Xiao, L., Morgan, U.M., Lal, A.A. and Dubey, J.P. (2001) Cryptosporidium canis n. sp. from domestic dogs. J. Parasitol., 87: 1415-1422. [Crossref]

6. Ryan, U., Fayer, R. and Xiao, L. (2014) Cryptosporidium species in humans and animals: current understanding and research needs. Parasitology, 141: 1667-1685. [Crossref] [PubMed]

7. Fayer, R. (2010) Taxonomy and species delimitation in Cryptosporidium. Exp. Parasitol., 124: 90-97. [Crossref] [PubMed]

8. Xiao, L. and Ryan, U.M. (2004) Cryptosporidiosis: An update in molecular epidemiology. Curr. Opin. Infect. Dis., 17: 483-490. [Crossref] [PubMed]

9. Slapeta, J. (2013) Cryptosporidiosis and Cryptosporidium species in animals and humans: a thirty colour rainbow? Int. J. Parasitol., 43: 957-970. [Crossref] [PubMed]

10. Lim, Y.A., Mahdy, M.A. and Surin, J. (2013) Unravelling Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Southeast Asia. Parasites and their Vectors. Southeast Asia, Cryptosporidium and Giardia have been reported in countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia. p77-102. [Crossref]

11. Koompapong, K. and Sukthana, Y. (2012) Seasonal variation and potential sources of Cryptosporidium contamination in surface waters of Chao Phraya River and Bang Pu nature reserve pier, Thailand. Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 43: 832-840. [PubMed]

12. Srisuphanunt, M., Saksirisampant, W. and Karanis, P. (2011) Prevalence and genotyping of Cryptosporidium isolated from HIV/AIDS patients in urban areas of Thailand. Ann. Trop. Med. Parasitol., 105: 463-468. [Crossref] [PubMed] [PMC]

13. Berger, S. (2017) Infectious Diseases of Thailand: 2017 Edition. GIDEON Informatics Inc., Thailand.

14. Squire, S.A. and Ryan, U. (2017) Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Africa: Current and future challenges. Parasit. Vectors, 10: 195. [Crossref] [PubMed] [PMC]

15. Santin, M. (2013) Clinical and subclinical infections with Cryptosporidium in animals. N Z Vet J., 61: 1-10. [Crossref] [PubMed]

16. Jittapalapong, S., Pinyopanuwat, N., Chimnoi, W., Siripanth, C. and Stich, R.W. (2006) Prevalence of Cryptosporidium among dairy cows in Thailand. Ann NY Acad Sci., 1081: 328-335. [Crossref] [PubMed]

17. Inpankaew, T., Jiyipong, T., Wongpanit, K., Pinyopanuwat, N., Chimnoi, W., Kengradomkij, C., Xuan, X., Igarashi, I., Xiao, L. and Jittapalapong, S. (2014) Molecular detection of Cryptosporidium spp. infections in water buffaloes from northeast Thailand. Trop. Anim. Health Prod., 46: 487-490. [Crossref] [PubMed]

18. Sricharern, W., Inpankaew, T., Keawmongkol, S., Supanam, J., Stich, R.W. and Jittapalapong, S. (2016) Molecular detection and prevalence of Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp. among long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Thailand. Infect. Genet. Evol., 40: 310-314. [Crossref] [PubMed]

19. Bouzid, M., Hunter, P.R., Chalmers, R.M. and Tyler, K.M. (2013) Cryptosporidium pathogenicity and virulence. Clin. Microbiol. Rev., 26: 115-134. [Crossref] [PubMed] [PMC]

20. O'Donoghue, P.J. (1995) Cryptosporidium and cryptosporidiosis in man and animals. Int. J. Parasitol., 25: 139-195. [Crossref]

21. Caccio, S.M. and Widmer, G., editors. (2013) Cryptosporidium: Parasite and Disease. Springer Science & Business Media, Germany.

22. Current, W. and Reese, N.C. (1986) A comparison of endogenous development of three isolates of Cryptosporidium in suckling mice. J. Protozool., 33: 98-108. [Crossref] [PubMed]

23. Tzipori, S. and Ward, H. (2002) Cryptosporidiosis: Biology, pathogenesis and disease. Microbes. Infect., 4: 1047-1058. [Crossref]

24. Hubalek, Z. (2003) Emerging human infectious diseases: Anthroponoses, zoonoses, and sapronoses. Emerg. Infect. Dis., 9: 403-404. [Crossref] [PubMed] [PMC]

25. Xiao, L. and Feng, Y. (2008) Zoonotic cryptosporidiosis. FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol., 52: 309-323. [Crossref] [PubMed]

26. Pedersen, C., Danner, S., Lazzarin, A., Glauser, M.P., Weber, R., Katlama, C., Barton, S.E. and Lundgren, J.D. (1996) Epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis among European AIDS patients. Sex Transm. Infect., 72: 128-131. [Crossref]

27. Jiang, J., Alderisio, K.A. and Xiao, L. (2005) Distribution of Cryptosporidium genotypes in storm event water samples from three watersheds in New York. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 71: 4446-4454. [Crossref] [PubMed] [PMC]

28. Alles, A.J., Waldron, M.A., Sierra, L.S. and Mattia, A.R. (1995) Prospective comparison of direct immunofluorescence and conventional staining methods for detection of Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp. in human fecal specimens. J. Clin. Microbiol., 33: 1632-1634. [PubMed] [PMC]

29. Chalmers, R.M. and Katzer, F. (2013) Looking for Cryptosporidium: The application of advances in detection and diagnosis. Trends Parasitol., 29: 237-251. [Crossref] [PubMed]

30. Koonakosit, R., Sriurairatna, S. and Petchclai, B. (1992) Microscopic examination of Cryptosporidium oocysts in diarrhoeal stools. J. Med. Assoc. Thai., 75: 180-184. [PubMed]

31. Campbell, A.T., Haggart, R., Robertson, L.J. and Smith, H.V. (1992) Fluorescent imaging of Cryptosporidium using a cooled charge couple device (CCD). J. Microbiol. Methods, 16: 169-174. [Crossref]

32. Pacheco, F.T., Silva, R.K., Martins, A.S., Oliveira, R.R., Alcantara-Neves, N.M., Silva, M.P., Soares, N.M. and Teixeira, M.C. (2013) Differences in the detection of Cryptosporidium and Isospora (Cystoisospora) oocysts according to the fecal concentration or staining method used in a clinical laboratory. J. Parasitol., 99: 1002-1008. [Crossref] [PubMed]

33. Fayer, R., Morgan, U. and Upton, S.J. (2000) Epidemiology of Cryptosporidium: Transmission, detection and identification. Int. J. Parasitol., 30: 1305-1322. [Crossref]

34. Simonato, G., Frangipane di Regalbono, A., Cassini, R., Traversa, D., Tessarin, C., Di Cesare, A. and Pietrobelli, M. (2017) Molecular detection of Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp. in canine faecal samples contaminating public areas in Northern Italy. Parasitol. Res., 116: 3411-3418. [Crossref] [PubMed]

35. Xiao, L., Escalante, L., Yang, C., Sulaiman, I., Escalante, A.A., Montali, R.J., Fayer, R. and Lal, A.A. (1999) Phylogenetic analysis of Cryptosporidium parasites based on the small subunit rRNA gene locus. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 65: 1578-1583. [PubMed] [PMC]

36. Xiao, L., Morgan, U.M., Limor, J., Escalante, A., Arrowood, M., Shulaw, W., Thompson, R.C., Fayer, R. and Lal, A.A. (1999) Genetic diversity within Cryptosporidium parvum and related Cryptosporidium species. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 65: 3386-3391. [PubMed] [PMC]

37. Abdelsalam, I.M., Sarhan, R.M. and Hanafy, M.A. (2017) The impact of different copro-preservation conditions on molecular detection of Cryptosporidium species. Iran J. Parasitol., 12: 274-283. [PubMed] [PMC]

38. Mero, S., Kirveskari, J., Antikainen, J., Ursing, J., Rombo, L., Kofoed, P.E. and Kantele, A. (2017) Multiplex PCR detection of Cryptosporidium sp., Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica directly from dried stool samples from Guinea-Bissauan children with diarrhoea. Infect. Dis. (Lond), 49: 655-663. [Crossref]

39. Khan, A., Shaik, J.S. and Grigg, M.E. (2017) Genomics and molecular epidemiology of Cryptosporidium species. Acta Trop., 176: 349-354. [Crossref]

40. Doganci, T., Araz, E., Ensari, A., Tanyuksel, M. and Doganci, L. (2002) Detection of Cryptosporidium parvum infection in childhood using various techniques. Med. Sci. Monit., 8: MT223-MT226. [PubMed]

41. Gargala, G. (2008) Drug treatment and novel drug target against Cryptosporidium. Parasite, 15: 275-281. [Crossref] [PubMed]

42. Viel, H., Rocques, H., Martin, J. and Chartier, C. (2007) Efficacy of nitazoxanide against experimental cryptosporidiosis in goat neonates. Parasitol. Res., 102: 163-166. [Crossref] [PubMed]

43. Ollivett, T.L., Nydam, D.V., Bowman, D.D., Zambriski, J.A., Bellosa, M.L., Linden, T.C. and Divers, T.J. (2009) Effect of nita-zoxanide on cryptosporidiosis in experimentally infected neonatal dairy calves. J. Dairy Sci., 92: 1643-1648. [Crossref] [PubMed]

44. Conn, D.B., Weaver, J., Tamang, L. and Graczyk, T.K. (2007) Synanthropic flies as vectors of Cryptosporidium and Giardia among livestock and wildlife in a multispecies agricultural complex. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis., 7: 643-651. [Crossref] [PubMed]

45. Rossle, N.F. and Latif, B. (2013) Cryptosporidiosis as threatening health problem: A review. Asian Pac. J. Trop. Biomed., 3: 916-924. [Crossref]

46. Hoar, B.R., Atwill, E.R., Elmi, C. and Farver, T.B. (2001) An examination of risk factors associated with beef cattle shedding pathogens of potential zoonotic concern. Epidemiol. Infect., 127: 147-155. [Crossref] [PubMed] [PMC]

47. De Graaf, D.C., Vanopdenbosch E., Ortega-Mora, L.M., Abbassi, H. and Peeters, J.E. (1999) A review of the importance of cryptosporidiosis in farm animals. Int. J. Parasitol., 29: 1269-1287. [Crossref]

48. Ghazy, A.A., Abdel-Shafy, S. and Shaapan, R.M. (2016) Cryptosporidiosis in animals and man: 3. Prevention and control. Asian J. Epidemiol., 9: 1-9. [Crossref]

---