National surveillance for infection with Cryptosporidium Parvum, 1995-1998: what have we learned?

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Abstract
Infection with Cryptosporidium parvum generally causes a self-limiting diarrheal illness. Symptoms can, however, last for weeks and can be severe, especially in immunocompromised individuals. In 1994, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) recommended that cryptosporidiosis be a nationally notifiable disease. Forty-seven states have made infection with C. parvum notifiable to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and laboratories in the three remaining states report cases to state health departments, which may report them to the CDC. To see what the data show about patterns of infection, the authors reviewed the first four years of reports to the CDC. The authors analyzed reports of laboratory-confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis for 1995-1998. During 1995-1998, 11,612 laboratory-confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis were reported to the CDC. All ages and both sexes were affected. An increase in case reporting was observed in late summer during each year of surveillance for people <20 years of age. The first national data on laboratory-confirmed cryptosporidiosis cases, although incomplete, provide useful information on the burden of disease in the nation as well as provide baseline data for monitoring of future trends.