Can Crypto Be Prevented?
There is no medication that prevents crypto. The best protection is cleanliness. Avoid contact with human or animal wastes. Wash your hands after using the bathroom, gardening, handling dirty laundry or animals, or changing diapers. Crypto can be transmitted through oral-anal sexual activity. Do not swallow water when swimming, since water may be contaminated with human or animal waste containing crypto. Raw oysters may carry crypto. In some developing countries and in some US cities the public water supply is contaminated with crypto. Check with your water department. If there is a problem, and your CD4 cell count (see Fact Sheet 124) is below 200, consider the following steps: • Boil drinking or cooking water for one minute; or • Drink bottled water; or • Drink filtered water: Use a home filter labeled “1-micron filter” or “Meets National Science Foundation (NSF) standard number 53 for cyst removal;” or • Drink distilled water. Bottled water may not be safe if it has not been boiled
