200 sickened in Australia by outbreak of parasite

CANBERRA, Feb. 27 (Chinese media) -- About 200 people have

been struck down by cryptosporidiosis, a diarrhea disease caused by a parasitic

infection of the intestine in New South Wales since the beginning of this month.

NSW Health communicable diseases director Jeremy

McAnulty said on Friday 44 of the cases were reported to NSW Health in the past

24 hours.

"About half are kids under five and that's a typical

pattern we see in crypto outbreaks of this nature," Australian Associated Press

quoted McAnulty as saying in Sydney.

McAnulty said there were no common links in most

cases but some had reported swimming in common pools, which could be easily

contaminated by infectious swimmers.

"We don't know for sure that any pool has caused this

outbreak but we do know that many people have been swimming, which based on our

previous investigations, suggests that it's a possible risk factor that swimming

pools may be causing this," he said.

McAnulty also said 19 pools, mostly in Sydney's west,

had been super-chlorinated. None had tested positive for cryptosporidium.

The parasite is very hardy and can infect pools for

up to two weeks.

There is no treatment for the infection which can

cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, nausea and fever for weeks, and

sometimes months.

The biggest outbreak of the disease, which usually

occurs in summer or autumn, was in NSW in 1998 when more than 1,000 cases were

confirmed.