title: Case-control study of environmental and social factors influencing cryptosporidiosis.
abstract: We report on the first case-control study to investigate the role of wider environmental and socioeconomic factors upon human cryptosporidiosis. Using GIS the detailed locations of 3368 laboratory-confirmed cases were compared to the locations of an equal number of controls. All cases were genotyped enabling Cryptosporidium hominis and Cryptosporidium parvum to be examined separately. When all cryptosporidiosis cases were analyzed, several location variables were strongly associated with illness: areas with many higher socioeconomic status individuals, many individuals aged less than 4 years, areas with a high estimate of Cryptosporidium applied to land from manure, and areas with poorer water treatment. For C. hominis cases, the strongly significant risk factors were areas with many higher socioeconomic status individuals, areas with many young children and urban areas. Socioeconomic status and areas with many individuals aged less then 4 years had a greater impact for infection with C. hominis than for C. parvum. Policy implications are discussed.
authors: School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. i.lake@uea.ac.uk
authors: Iain R
authors: IR
authors: Lake
authors: Florence C D
authors: FC
authors: Harrison
authors: Rachel M
authors: RM
authors: Chalmers
authors: Graham
authors: G
authors: Bentham
authors: Gordon
authors: G
authors: Nichols
authors: Paul R
authors: PR
authors: Hunter
authors: R Sari
authors: RS
authors: Kovats
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Grundy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000469:parasitology*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology