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Article: Parasitic invaders and the reluctant human host. (includes related articles)
- Article from:
- FDA Consumer
- Article date:
- July 1, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Thousands of Milwaukee area residents got an unwanted crash course last April in cryptosporidiosis, a disease most had never heard of until they---or friends or family-contracted it. The culprit was a parasite, Cryptosporidium, that had invaded the city's drinking water supply, causing people to become sick with diarrhea and other intestinal symptoms; several died.
Cryptosporidium lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and is excreted in feces. Health officials suspect the water supply became contaminated from a high level of runoff into Lake Michigan from area dairy farms or slaughterhouses near the water plant's intake pipe. An inadequate ...