The last year has seen new approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of protozoal
infections of the gastrointestinal tract. Some of the news is not good: new foodborne and swimming pool outbreaks of
cyclosporiasis and
cryptosporidiosis, respectively, occurred in North America;
paromomycin was shown to be ineffective treatment for
cryptosporidiosis; and these
parasitic diseases continued to have a worldwide impact on human health. On the bright side, there were important advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of
cryptosporidiosis and the diagnosis of
amebiasis and
giardiasis, and some new leads on the treatment of
cryptosporidiosis and refractory
giardiasis. Finally, evidence was found of acquired mucosal immunity to
amebiasis in Bangladeshi children, offering a guide for the development of an
amebiasis vaccine. This review is not intended to be comprehensive, but contains a variety of articles that the authors hope will be of interest to the reader.