156 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of deaths that have occurred over the past ten years from the presence of cryptosporidium in public water supplies; and the groups vulnerable to serious injury or death from this organism. [11955/07]

While illness associated with cryptosporidium are notifiable, the outcome of the illness is not currently recorded. Data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show that in Ireland there were 432 cases of cryptosporidiosis in 2004, 570 in 2005 and 361 in 2006. Between 1999 and 2002 there was an average of 60 cases per annum hospitalised (annual rate of 1.5 per 100,000 population). The most vulnerable groups in the population are the young and the immunocompromised.