Recent studies have suggested that some outbreaks of diarrhea in children may be caused by Cryptosporidium, a parasite associated with gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infection in animals. In a study of 7300 British Columbia patients with diarrhea, cryptosporidial oocysts were found in the stool samples of 46 (0.63%). It appears that the occurrence of cryptosporidiosis is related to three factors: the patient's age, the time of year and the geographic location.
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