Quick Answer: Yes, the Black Berkey elements that come standard in the berkey water filter have been tested to remove Cryptosporidium in water along with other bacteria to levels greater than 99.9999%.

Do Household Filters like Brita Remove Cryptosportidium?

No, mass market water filters like Brita DO NOT remove Cryptosporidium from the water.

Also, Scientists Develop Simple Tool for Detecting Cryptosporidium in Drinking Water

Scientists from the University of British Columbia have developed technology that science fiction fans have dreamed of for decades — a hand-held 'tricorder' that is able to detect biological contaminants on site in real-time.

Using an inexpensive, small biosensor, researchers from UBC's School of Engineering have introduced a unique, low-cost technique for accurately detecting cryptosporidium in drinking water samples.

What is Cryptosporidium in Water?

Cryptosporidium is a drinking water pathogen responsible for gastrointestinal and respiratory illness that is found throughout world. Consuming water that is contaminated with this intestinal parasite can cause diarrhea, and in severe cases can even be fatal.

A microscopic image of the Cryptosporidium. The Black Berkey elements have been tested to remove Cryptosporidium and other bacteria to levels greater than 99.9999%.

Currently, detecting this water borne parasite is a tedious process that can only be conducted in a laboratory, and even then the results are not necessarily reliable.

"Current methods for detecting cryptosporidium require filtering large volumes of water, separating out the organisms, staining them with a fluorescence label and trying to identify the pathogen using a microscope," says George Luka, a doctoral student at UBC Okanagan's School of Engineering and lead author of the study. "The process is extremely slow, expensive and doesn't yield reliable results."

According to Luka, a faster, more flexible detection tool that is accurate and able to detect these contaminants in real-time is urgently needed to protect consumers from this ubiquitous and potentially hazardous drinking water contaminant.

Using a specially designed and calibrated biosensor, Luka and his fellow researchers set about addressing this issue. Testing water samples containing different concentrations of the cryptosporidium pathogen, the researchers were able to determine the biosensor's ability to detect the presence of cryptosporidium in water.

"The biosensor performed exactly as we were hoping and was able to measure cryptosporidium contamination rapidly and without the need for complex preparations and highly-trained technicians," says Luka. "This is an impressive solution that can easily be integrated into inexpensive and portable devices to test drinking water in real-time anywhere in the world."

According to Luka, the newly developed biosensor has other applications too, and can be expanded so that it can be used to monitor other biological hazards in both environmental and medical situations. Having a hand-held biosensor that is able to test our drinking water and other areas of our environment is no longer just a dream, but could very soon become a dependable tool.

How Common is Cryptosporidium in Water

Across the US, Cryptosporidium will affect almost 750,000 people each year with diarrhea and other side effects such as abdominal cramping, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, fever, headache, and loss of appetite that can last for days and even weeks.

How to Remove Cryptosporidium from Drinking Water

Having a futuristic gadget that can detect a common drinking water contaminant in real-time will be a great help in preventing people from succumbing to gastrointestinal illness as a result of drinking contaminated water. But, having a countertop water filter like the Berkey that is capable of removing cryptosporidium and other pathogens will improve drinking water safety further, ensuring that any potential pathogens have been removed from the water before you consume it, particularly when traveling to remote locations where water quality and sanitation may be dodgy at best. Being able to detect biological water contaminants will be great. But having a way to detect and remove them is even better.

Journal Reference Luka, G.; Samiei, E.; Dehghani, S.; Johnson, T.; Najjaran, H.; Hoorfar, M. Label-Free Capacitive Biosensor for Detection of Cryptosporidium. Sensors 2019, 19, 258.