Optimisation of cell culture and molecular typing for the characterisation of Cryptosporidium in water.

隐孢子虫是人和动物腹泻的重要水媒病原体。准确检测从水中恢复的活体寄生虫阶段的改进方法是水务行业的优先研究需要。它们依赖于改进的体外培养程序，这些程序可以与基于DNA的分析相结合，以鉴定从淡水中回收的隐孢子虫和密切相关的原生动物的物种和菌株。该项目在默多克大学拥有隐孢子虫体外培养和基因特征方面专长的科学家与澳大利亚两家主要水务公司的科学家合作研究中满足了这些需求。

Cryptosporidium is an important waterborne agent of diarrhoeal disease in people and animals. Improved methods for accurately detecting viable parasite stages recovered from water are a priority research need for the water industry. They are dependent upon improved in vitro cultivation procedures that can be combined with DNA-based assays for identifying species and strains of Cryptosporidium and closely related protozoa recovered from freshwater. This project addresses these needs in a collaborative study between scientists at Murdoch University with expertise in both in vitro cultivation and genetic characterisation of Cryptosporidium, and scientists from two of the major water utilities in Australia.