The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed two cases of cryptosporidiosis virus: one male and one female who had direct contact with an outside person and ate contaminated food. In a recent report, Dr. Maria Ramos from the CDC stated that these two cases may be unrelated to “approximately 80 cases of a rare, but highly infectious virus associated with a cluster of HSU-18, 18, or 18 ‘pulp samples [from previous] communicable disease investigations” at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Laboratory in March and April of this year.
People do not become ill from an illness such as this one without significant exposure to the virus, its natural habitat, or many environmental conditions. This imported food was contaminated with the newly identified choriococcule omicron variant of cryptosporidiosis virus.
Cryptosporidiosis is a waterborne infection caused by the genus Cryptosporidium helix. The virus infects humans and animals and, most commonly, causes gastrointestinal illness. It’s been eradicated from all human populations other than those on reservation lands in the western United States. Crypto is typically not infectious at room temperature, making it difficult to isolate and treat, but in places like the United States in which regular infectious diseases are common, it is a special type of disease that must be treatable by drug treatment.
How does Crypto tickle the human gut?
Some of the symptoms of Crypto include: fatigue, decreased appetite, fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Fecal tract infections with Crypto are primarily gastroenteritis with most people feeling better within a few days. Though infections often manifest themselves as diarrhea, the most common symptoms are abdominal pain and vomiting. The severity of an infection may vary, especially for those with poor immune systems.
Anyone may get infected, even if they have a healthy gastrointestinal tract. In fact, outbreaks in some states have been traced to human-to-human transmission as the virus is “ransoming” from one case to another without presenting symptoms.
Other effects of infection can be severe. Crypto causes kidney failure, eye damage, wound infections, and peripheral neuropathy. However, in most cases, patients do not get sick or symptomatic until they have already become infected. It can be difficult to identify when a case has become infected and an effective treatment program will be established once infection is confirmed.
What is crypto?
Crypto is a type of bacteria that is transmitted through the feces of infected individuals. As a result, infected individuals are more likely to spread the infection to others through contact with feces than through contact with animal feces. An active infection also may cause urinary tract infection (UTI) or rectal infection (RIC). People infected with Crypto may have low immunity.
Why aren’t we familiar with crypto?
Crypto’s genome is longer than 99.99%; also, it is more similar to human cells. This means that many of the same pathogens infect our bodies at different times, but develop characteristics very similar to one another, resulting in the majority of human pathogens known as NCOIDs.
How was crypto identified at the FDA Lab?
Tracing viral infections to its source takes longer than tracing viruses from animals. Disease transmission through a farm worker with a water supply contaminated with C. rubrum can take as long as ten years. However, a sample of DNA from a reservoir reservoir might not show the changes in the virus for years if the host has been dormant for that long. Genetic sequencing has identified another crypto strain that has been circulating in the US for two years and remains virulent and resistant to standard medications.
On what infected group of humans is crypto most often found?
Although there is no evidence of a pandemic infecting humans in this country, a sizable number of these viruses have mutated since their last documented circulation in the United States from 1985-1990. The new strains of crypto are similar to the other crypto strains that are commonly found in the United States and humans in many other countries, including Russia, France, and Spain. Due to these differences, it is likely that a significant number of crypto cases in the United States were caused by these viruses that were circulating in the country in 2016-2017.
What is the aim of the WHO and the FDA?
The goal of the WHO and the FDA is to keep Americans safe and reduce the risk of future outbreaks. At this time, the World Health Organization, Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control are working with public health officials to investigate the incidents and provide training and knowledge to the public in case there is a future outbreak.