Cryptosporidium and Giardia: challenges in public water supplies

DOI: 10.15343/0104-7809.2012364602609

Abstract

Water-borne diseases caused by opportunistic protozoa re-emerged as an important public health problem in recent
years, despite technological advances in water treatment processes. In this context, agents such as Cryptosporidium and
Giardia produce (oo)cysts resistant to conventional water treatment and can cause serious cases of morbidity in immunocompromised
individuals. In Brazil, water control by specific and sensitive techniques aimed at detecting Cryptosporidium
and Giardia still is not widespread. The aim of this study was to do a critical analysis of the scientific evidence on
the contamination of public water supplies by Cryptosporidium and Giardia. We did a systematic review of the literature
produced from 2001 to 2011 in PUBMED and LILACS databases. From the results, we find a cosmopolitan distribution of
these parasites in different sources of treated water, representing a risk to public health and a challenge for environmental
monitoring, considering the specificity and high cost of internationally recognized analytical techniques for identifying
these pathogens in water