Staff at health department hard at work

While most people enjoy time off to relax this weekend, Becky Hunt and her staff at the Madison County Health Department will still be hard at work handling the increasing cases of cryptosporidiosis.

“When we have an outbreak like this, we have to work 24 hours a day, including weekends, Hunt said on Friday.

As of Friday evening, the number of cases had risen to 46 since the first two cases were diagnosed Aug. 8. St. Francois County Health Department had received one confirmed and two suspected cases of the intestinal parasite.

No cases have been reported in Iron and Ste. Genevieve, health officials in those counties said on Friday.

In Jefferson County, health officials have stepped up their lookout for cases involving the intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium in response to the outbreak in Madison County, Administrator Dennis Diehl said.

“We’ve been doing extra surveillance, but I haven’t heard of any yet,” he said.

Health professionals in Washington County see cases with similar symptoms fairly often, but tests are rarely performed, Administrator Judy Wright said.

“The lack of insurance and the cost of tests mean most people don’t get tested,” Wright said. “We have sent off one sample, but so far we haven’t seen any cases.”