Credit: CELLS ALIVE!/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Caption: Excystation of Cryptosporidium parvum. Cysts of this water-borne parasite can be found in some public water supplies. Takes only 4-6 cysts to infect. You drink the water, the cyst passes the stomach where acid weakens the cyst wall, and in the intestine, the little caraway seed-like sporozooites invade the intestinal wall and produce more cysts. Sporozooites are shown escaping their cysts. Can be fatal in suppressed immune individuals like AIDS.

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Keywords: cell, cryptosporidiosis, cryptosporidium parvum, cysts, eukaryote, excystation, microbiology, microscopic, parasitic, protozoa, protozoan, science, scientific, single celled, sporozoites, waterborne parasite