Cryptosporidium Parvum And Giardia Case Study

1.1 Introduction
Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lambia have become some of the world’s worries in the water treatment industry, as a result of their resistance to chlorine disinfection and treatment (MacKenzie, 1994; Fayer, 1995). Pervasive outbreaks of diseases caused by these two microorganisms (Cryptosporidiosis and Giardiasis) have infested thousands of individuals, causing severe gastrointestinal disorders (MacKenzie, 1994; Haas, 1995). The most severe epidemic case occurred in Wisconsin in 1993 when 400,000 people were infected by cryptosporidium, causing more than 104 deaths (MacKenzie, 1994). “Molecular biology has provided insight into the taxonomy and epidemiology of Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lambia, which are major causes of protozoa diarrhea in human worldwide” (Caccio, et al., 2005).
Cryptosporidium and Giardia are intestinal parasites that cause diarrhea in human and animals worldwide, especially in developing countries where it has been recorded that, diarrhea is the third leading cause of death (WHO, 2008; Lanata, 2013). Irrespective of the advanced and/or modern diagnosis and
Furthermore, there have been reported prevalence rate of 9% of Giardiasis among diarrhoea children in the northern sector (Reither et al., 2007) and 9.7% in the middle belt (Nkrumah et al., 2011). A recent hospital-based study conducted on diarrhoea cases in the capital of Ghana, Accra, recorded a prevalence of 10.1% of Giardia (Anim-Baidoo et al., 2013; Anim-Baidoo et al., 2016). Even though there have been no major epidemic or outbreak of Giardiasis in Ghana, there is an increasingly high incidence, 24-32% of Giardiasis in some hospitals and polyclinics (Edoh and Donkor, 2004) as well as 5.1-46.5% in some community day-care centers (Agyemang, 2006; Atta-Owusu,