44 Percent Increase In Crypto, FoodNet Data Shows
After the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention released the 2007 FoodNet data, most of the 
stories that were written focused on the fact that there was little change in the incidents of food-borne illnesses in 45-million person study area.
There was, however, one exception. The parasite Cryptosporidium, for which the estimated incidence of infections was up 44 percent compared with the 2004-06 period, the CDC said.
Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, said new treatment for the parasite infection might be causing doctors to order more tests for it.
Tauxe said the increase in Cryptosporidium cases may reflect increased diagnostic testing triggered by the licensing of a new treatment, nitazoxanide. "There wasn't a compelling reason to get a test done in the past. Now it's something they [physicians] can treat," he said.
On the other hand, there might be just a lot more of the parasite out there. The Foodnet area includes Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, and Tennessee, plus parts of California, Colorado, and New York. Cypto outbreaks have been commonplace, especially involving water parks and public swimming pools.
FoodNet counted 1,216 cases of Cryptosporidium in the study area during 2007, or 2.67 per 100,000. Since the study area represents 15 percent of the total population in the United States, FoodNet suggests there might have been more than 8,100 Cryto cases in the entire country last year.
