Cryptosporidiosis is a considerable cause of global diarrhea-related morbidity and mortality,
especially among children and immunocompromised individuals. In addition, various studies
suggested a link between cryptosporidiosis and cancer. There is no fully effective treatment or
vaccination for cryptosporidiosis. Moreover, these highly infectious oocysts are usually resistant
to the routinely used disinfection measures, and subsequently repeated waterborne outbreaks
occur. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) are widely used safe material that show good
antimicrobial properties. The study investigated the efficacy of ZnONPs in disinfecting water
Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts.
Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts were incubated with different concentrations of ZnONPs or
chlorine for one hour. Then, we further investigated the ability of the ZnONPs-pretreated oocysts
to induce pathology in experimental animals. Evaluation was performed regarding onset
of oocyst shedding, oocyst score, degree of intestinal pathology and apoptosis. Our results
showed that the oocyst pretreated with 90 and 120 μg/ml ZnONPs concentrations had the latest
onset of oocyst shedding and the lowest shedding scores. Moreover, they presented the mildest
degrees of pathology and apoptosis.