Two more crypto cases diagnosed in county

Two more cryptosporidium cases have been discovered in Douglas County, a month after health officials said the outbreak appeared to be over.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department announced Thursday afternoon that two new cases had been diagnosed. There was no apparent connection to community swimming pools, day care facilities or other cases from the outbreak, officials said.

In October, officials said they believed the outbreak had ceased.

“It has been three weeks since a laboratory-confirmed case of cryptosporidium has been reported in Douglas County,” health director Kay Kent said in an Oct. 24 news release, “indicating that two incubation periods have passed without a new case.”

Sporadic cases still could be discovered, she said at the time.

Eighty-nine cases of the parasite were diagnosed in Douglas County since the beginning of its spread in late July. News of the outbreak became public when health authorities closed down city pools in late August. It eventually spread to five more northeast Kansas counties.

Cryptosporidium is a microscopic parasite that causes diarrhea, loose or watery stool, stomach cramps, upset stomach and a slight fever. The parasite can be fatal to patients with weakened immune systems, such as the young, elderly or people with HIV. More than two-thirds of those who contract cryptosporidiosis are children.

There is no treatment for the illness in adults, but federal officials approved a drug for children last year. Those who contract the parasite but are otherwise healthy usually recover within two or three weeks.

The parasite is passed through oral ingestion of even microscopic amounts of tainted feces.

In Lawrence, the disease spread most quickly at day-care centers. Officials said no one was hospitalized with the parasite here.

Health authorities said residents should continue to take precautions to avoid spread of the disease. Those precautions include hand-washing after using the bathroom and before preparing food and not swimming for at least two weeks after having diarrhea

For more on this story, see the 6News reports at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband’s channel 6 and pick up a copy of Friday’s Journal-World.