THREAD
A little parasitology #MedEd inspired by d1 @CHOP_ID:
Diarrhea after contact with baby cows? Think #cryptosporidiosis! 💩+ 🐄 = #crypto
The other big exposure risk? Recreational water, especially pools and lakes 🏊♂️
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…
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@CHOP_ID Calf exposure is such a big risk b/c calves are very likely to have #crypto. My favorite outbreak is this 2013 overturned cattle truck carrying 100s of calves. RR for diarrhea 3.0 in first responders who "carried calves":
cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/m…
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@CHOP_ID T-cell immunity is important to #crypto control - think uncontrolled HIV and cyclosporin inhibitors (tacro, CsA).
First key to management - restore immune function.
Antiparasitic treatment with nitazoxanide also helpful - but often not enough if IC
cdc.gov/parasites/cryp…
@CHOP_ID That's why we need better antiparasitics for #crypto! But the parasite couldn't even be cultured not that long ago. Huge props to superheroes @striepenlab @pennvet , David Sibley @WUSTLmed, @SaterialeLab and Chris Huston @uvermont and others for their groundbreaking work!
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@CHOP_ID @striepenlab @pennvet @WUSTLmed @SaterialeLab @uvermont Fun fact: #Crypto is an Apicomplexan parasite, a distant cousin of the #Plasmodium #malaria parasites. But it has lost the canonical #apicoplast characteristic of the genus!
Since #apicoplasts are important to make #isoprenoids, you might think - how does #crypto get IPP? /5
@CHOP_ID @striepenlab @pennvet @WUSTLmed @SaterialeLab @uvermont Why, from its host cell, of course! Nice work in 2013 from Kovi Bessof, @SaterialeLab, and Chris Huston found that statins (inhibitors of human #isoprenoid biosynthesis) have anticryptosporidial activity:
aac.asm.org/content/57/4/1…
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@CHOP_ID @striepenlab @pennvet @WUSTLmed @SaterialeLab @uvermont A final note - while #crypto is a pesky infection here in the US, it remains an important cause of life-threatening diarrhea in children worldwide - and very understudied.
It's "time to tackle" #cryptosporidiosis @striepenlab nature.com/articles/50318…
/fin
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