Clustering of cryptosporidiosis in Queensland, Australia, is not defined temporally or by spatial diversity

[Display omitted] •A SaTScan space–time scan statistic identified statewide clusters of cryptosporidiosis.•A majority of clusters of cryptosporidiosis centred on major and regional cities.•Clusters were distributed across all five Australian remoteness categories.•Cluster formation coincided with the Australian summer months.•There was high representation of children under 5 years and females of childbearing age. Cryptosporidiosis, caused by infection with Cryptosporidium spp., is a globally distributed disease that manifests as diarrhoea for which there is no effective treatment. The protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is difficult to detect and control, and can lead to severe disease in young children and the immunocompromised. Individual outbreaks across Australia have predominately been reported in urban areas associated with recreational water, but investigation of spatiotemporal distribution of disease is limited. This study evaluated the spatial and temporal patterns of clusters of notified cases of cryptosporidiosis in the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland, which has the highest average notified cases nationally. A spatiotemporal analysis in SaTScan of 12,263 notified cases from mid 2001 to mid 2015 identified 79 statistically significant disease clusters (P