Prevalence of Cryptosporidium Infection in the Global Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite that can infect both humans and animals and cause cryptosporidiosis. We aimed to estimate the global prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection. METHODS: In this study, Web of Science, Medline and PubMed were searched for relative articles, published between January 1, 1960 and January 1, 2018. Included articles were restricted to English language and that sample size of articles was not less than 50. Studies with no information on the study period, location, method of diagnosis, sample size and number of infected people were excluded. Studies about outbreak, laboratory report or immunocompromised population were excluded as well. The quality of the included publications was assessed. The prevalence of cryptosporidiosis was estimated by DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model, after…