TY - JOUR T1 - Cryptosporidiosis and Microsporidiosis JF - Gut JO - Gut SP - 456 LP - 456 DO - 10.1136/gut.49.3.456d VL - 49 IS - 3 AU - R C G POLLOK Y1 - 2001/09/01 UR - http://gut.bmj.com/content/49/3/456.5.abstract N2 - Cryptosporidiosis and Microsporidiosis. Edited by F Petry (Contributions to Microbiology, vol 6), (Pp 268; illustrated). Switzerland: Karger, 2000. ISBN 3805570503.There is a great need to raise the profile of parasitic diarrhoeal disease, and this book serves the cause well. World wide the prevalence of Cryptosporidium among individuals with diarrhoea is approximately 5%. The common notion that cryptosporidiosis is purely a disease of the immunocompromised is wrong. Since the well publicised Milwaukee outbreak in the USA, affecting 420 000 individuals, large waterborne outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis repeatedly occur at an alarming rate despite “state of the art” water treatment facilities, illustrated by two examples. In 1998, Sydney water supplies became heavily contaminated withCryptosporidium leading to a full scale enquiry by the Australian government. A large outbreak occurred in London and Hertfordshire in 1997, affecting a population of half a … ER -