Parasites in the genus Cryptosporidium, phylum Apicomplexa, are found worldwide in the intestinal tract of many vertebrate species and in the environment. Driven by sensitive PCR methods, and the availability of abundant sequence data and reference genomes, the taxonomic complexity of the genus has steadily increased; 38 species have been named to date. Due to its public health importance, Cryptosporidium hominis has long attracted the interest of the research community. This species was initially described as infectious to humans only. This perception has persisted in spite of an increasing number of observations of natural and experimental infections of animals with this species. Here we summarize and discuss this literature published since 2000 and conclude that the host range of C. hominis is broader than originally described. The evolving definition of the C. hominis host range raises interesting questions about host specificity and the evolution of Cryptosporidium parasites.

中文翻译：

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非人类动物中的隐孢子虫人感染：重新探讨宿主特异性的概念。

隐孢子虫属（Apicomplexa）门的寄生虫在全世界许多脊椎动物物种的肠道和环境中被发现。在灵敏的PCR方法的推动下，以及可获得丰富的序列数据和参考基因组的推动下，该属的分类学复杂性不断提高。迄今已命名38种。由于其对人类健康的重要性，隐孢子虫一直吸引着研究界的兴趣。该物种最初被描述为仅对人类具有传染性。尽管越来越多地观察到该物种对动物的自然和实验感染，但这种看法仍持续存在。在这里，我们总结并讨论了自2000年以来发表的这些文献，并得出结论，人参衣原体的宿主范围比最初描述的要广。