PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - O'Leary, Jennifer K
AU  - Blake, Liam
AU  - Corcoran, Dan
AU  - Elwin, Kristin
AU  - Chalmers, Rachel
AU  - Lucey, Brigid
AU  - Sleator, Roy D
TI  - <em>Cryptosporidium</em> spp surveillance and epidemiology in Ireland: a longitudinal cohort study employing duplex real-time PCR based speciation of clinical cases
AID  - 10.1136/jclinpath-2020-206479
DP  - 2020 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Clinical Pathology
PG  - 758--761
VI  - 73
IP  - 11
4099  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/73/11/758.short
4100  - http://jcp.bmj.com/content/73/11/758.full
SO  - J Clin Pathol2020 Nov 01; 73
AB  - Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of gastroenteritis (cryptosporidiosis), with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Irish cryptosporidiosis incidence rates are consistently the highest reported in Europe. A retrospective, longitudinal study of clinical Cryptosporidium isolates was conducted from 2015 to 2018 in Cork, southern Ireland. Overall, 86.5% of cases were attributed to C. parvum, while the remaining 13.5% were caused by C. hominis. Despite the widespread implications of this protozoan parasite in sporadic and outbreak-related illness in Ireland, the current dearth of species-level epidemiological surveillance and clinical studies needs to be addressed in order to elucidate the national impact of this enteric pathogen.