By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

In a follow-up on a previous report on the Cryptosporidium outbreak in Sweden, the Public Health Authority, or Folkhalsomyndigheten, report more than 300 cases of cryptosporidiosis in October and November.

The good news is while the number of cases are still unusually high, the number of reported cases has decreased.

Image/CDC

Adults have been the most affected age group and most cases have been reported from Stockholm, Östergötland, Halland, Uppsala, Jönköping and Västra Götaland.

Health officials say of the 140 samples analyzed so far, 73 have been shown to belong to the same subtype (A ) of Cryptosporidium parvum. In addition to this subtype, a number of different subtypes have been detected, of which 35 cases with subtype B.

As part of the investigation, cases are interviewed about what they ate and drank before they became ill. The analysis shows that it was much more common among the cases with subtype A to drink pre-purchased freshly pressed fruit and vegetable drinks compared to the cases with subtype B.

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Such beverages have not been heat treated and can therefore contain harmful microorganisms. The investigation indicates that it is the spinach in the beverage, delivered in October, which is the source of infection for the cases with subtype A. Since spinach is a fresh product, the contaminated beverage is no longer in store.

However, it is still unknown what the cases with subtype B have been infected with, so far the investigation indicates that it is a different source of infection than for subtype A.