确定水源水中微小隐孢子虫污染源对于防止未来水传播隐孢子虫病暴发至关重要。因此，必须解决的一个重要问题是，饮用水供应中的卵囊是否是人类、农业或野生动物污染的结果。因此，水工业需要能够区分微小隐球菌不同分离株的方法。对分子指纹分析方法进行了评估，以确定是否可以根据分离物来源的动物宿主来确定分离物的特征。此外，还对这些指纹图谱方法的重现性和可靠性进行了评估。此外，还提出了将这些技术应用于水样的策略，作为监测计划的一部分。使用针对三个多态性标记的聚合酶链反应（PCR）对来自不同动物宿主和25种水浓缩物的200多个粪便样本进行了表征: B-微管蛋白基因、血栓反应蛋白相关粘附蛋白基因和编码卵囊壁蛋白的基因。结果表明，基于PCR的指纹图谱方法可以根据动物宿主来区分至少三种类型的分离物。对方法进行优化，对基因分型方案进行彻底的评估和验证，以及对技术固有错误和局限性的理解是必要的。然而，基于PCR的分子表征方法为水工业提供了一个强有力的工具，将有助于确定微小隐球菌污染源。包括16个参考文献、表格和图表。

Determining the source of Cryptosporidium parvum contamination in source water is critical to preventing future waterborne outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis. Therefore, an important issue which must be addressed is whether oocysts in drinking water supplies are the result of human, agricultural, or feral contamination. Consequently, the water industry needs methods that can discriminate between different isolates of C. parvum. Molecular fingerprinting methods were evaluated to determine whether isolates can be characterized according to the animal host from which they were derived. In addition, the reproducibility and reliability of these fingerprinting methods were assessed. Also, a stragegy for applying these techniques to water samples as part of a monitoring program is presented. Over 200 fecal samples from various animal hosts and 25 water concentrates were characterized using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting three polymorphic markers: the B-tubulin gene, a thrombospondin related adhesive protein gene, and a gene encoding an oocyst wall protein. The results demonstrated that PCR-based fingerprinting methods can be used to differentiate between at least three types of isolates based on animal host. Optimization of methods and thorough evaluations and validation of genetic typing schemes is necessary, along with an understanding of the inherent errors and limitations of the techniques. Nevertheless, PCR-based molecular characterization methods provide the water industry with a powerful tool which will be useful in determining the sources of C. parvum contamination. Includes 16 references, tables, figure.