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Publisher Summary Cell culture-based infectivity of C. parvum is a practical tool that can provide valuable information about the efficacy of disinfectants and the infectivity of oocysts in environmental waters. It is a widely applicable technique that supports the growth of the two primary genotypes of C. parvum and has been shown to be equivalent to a standard mouse assay. Therefore, in vitro cell culture-based assays should be regarded as practical alternatives to the use of animals for measuring the infectivity of C. parvum and assessing the efficacy of disinfectants. To fully assess the public health significance of C. parvum oocysts in water, it is necessary to know whether the oocysts in the environment are infectious. Additionally because of the resistance of C. parvum to standard chlorine disinfection, an increasingly important application of infectivity assays will be to determine the anticryptosporidial efficacy of alternative disinfectants such as ozone and Ultraviolet (UV) light. Human infectivity assays are not practical for use on a routine basis due to the difficulty in obtaining a sufficiently large number of study subjects and potential adverse health effects for volunteers. Mice are the most commonly used animals for C. parvum infectivity assays. The use of animals in scientific research raises ethical concerns, and animal-based assays can be expensive and time consuming with significant hidden costs, such as the maintenance of accredited facilities and license fees. Consequently, infectivity assays based on in vitro cell culture have been developed as an alternative to human- and animal-based assays. |
