{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,31]],"date-time":"2026-10-31T19:24:55Z","timestamp":1793474695592,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,24]],"date-time":"2022-03-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648080000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001864","name":"Ministry of Education and Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["lzp-2021\/1-0055"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["lzp-2021\/1-0055"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001864","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Protozoan parasites\u2014Cryptosporidium and Giardia\u2014are important causes of diarrhea with an underestimated short-term burden on childhood growth and wellbeing in children under five years of age. The main transmission routes for both parasites are food and drinking water; transmission from person to person; and, due to their zoonotic nature, from domestic or wild animals to humans. The aims of the present study were to summarize the officially reported human cases of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in Latvia and to assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in children within a prospective prevalence study. Materials and Methods: The number of officially reported cases of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in the time period of 2000\u20132020 was collected from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia. Data from a clinical diagnostic laboratory were included in the study in the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2018. Additionally, a prospective study was performed, and fecal samples were collected from unique 0\u201317-year-old patients from January to February 2021 and tested using fluorescent microscopy. Results: Overall, during the 20-year period, 71 cases (mean per year = 9) of cryptosporidiosis and 1020 (mean per year = 34) cases of giardiasis were officially reported in Latvia. Meanwhile, within the prospective study, we found 35 (6.0%; 95%CI 4.3\u20138.1) Cryptosporidium and 42 (7.2%; 95%CI 5.3\u20139.6) Giardia cases. Conclusions: Here, we provide clear proof that both Cryptosporidium and Giardia are underdiagnosed in Latvia, which could also be true for neighboring Baltic and European countries, where a low number of cases are officially reported. Therefore, we highlight the hypothesis that the actual number of cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis human cases in the Baltic states is higher than that officially reported, including in Latvia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina58040471","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,24]],"date-time":"2022-03-24T23:31:43Z","timestamp":1648164703000},"page":"471","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Occurrence of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. Infection in Humans in Latvia: Evidence of Underdiagnosed and Underreported Cases"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"58","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2993-3758","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gunita","family":"Deksne","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment BIOR, 1076 Riga, Latvia"},{"name":"Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, 1004 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agris","family":"Kr\u016bmi\u0146\u0161","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Post-Graduate Study Program in Family Medicine, University of Latvia, 1004 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7731-7263","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maira","family":"Mateusa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment BIOR, 1076 Riga, Latvia"},{"name":"Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Life Sciences and Technology, 3001 Jelgava, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vladimirs","family":"Morozovs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Riga Stradi\u0146\u0161 University, 1007 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"D\u0101rta Paula","family":"\u0160veisberga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment BIOR, 1076 Riga, Latvia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Riga Stradi\u0146\u0161 University, 1007 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rita","family":"Korotinska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia, 1005 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antra","family":"Bormane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia, 1005 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1826-9230","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ludmila","family":"V\u012bksna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Riga Stradi\u0146\u0161 University, 1007 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Angelika","family":"Kr\u016bmi\u0146a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment BIOR, 1076 Riga, Latvia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Riga Stradi\u0146\u0161 University, 1007 Riga, Latvia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1542\/pir.2015-0006","article-title":"Protozoan parasites","volume":"37","author":"Custodio","year":"2016","journal-title":"Pediatr. 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