New Tools to Speed Research on Parasite-Caused Diarrheal Disease | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

New Tools to Speed Research on Parasite-Caused Diarrheal Disease | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Tuesday, June 25, 2019 New Tools to Speed Research on Parasite-Caused Diarrheal Disease The waterborne intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of moderate-to-severe diarrheal disease worldwide. However, efforts to address this public health challenge are hampered by the lack of a robust animal model of the infection and by the difficulty of growing the parasite in the lab, making it hard for researchers to test candidate drugs or vaccines. That may now be changing, thanks to research by two independent groups of NIAID-supported scientists.