ACUTE DIARRHOEA ASSOCIATED WITH
CRYPTOSPORIDIUM SP
IN BELÉM, BRAZIL
(PRELIMINARY REPORT)
E d v a l d o C a r l o s B r i t o L O U R E I R O ( 1 ) , A l e x a n d r e d a C o s t a L I N H A R E S ( 1 ) & L e o n a r d o MATA (2)
S U M M A R Y
Cryptosporidium sp was detected in faeces from three children suffering from
acute diarrhoea. In two cases no other concomitant agents were detected and in
a 3rd. this agent was associated with Entamoeba histolytic, Entamoeba coli, Endo¬
Jimax nana, Chilomastix mesnili and Pentatricbomonas hominis,
KEY WORDS — Cryptosporidium sp — Acute diarrhoea.
Cryptosporidium sp, a coccidian parasite,
belongs to family Cryptosporidiidae, suborder
Eimeriorina. It was firstly detected by
TYZ-ZER
1 3 in 1907 and has recently been described
as potentially important enteropathogen,
affect-ing both children and adults throughout the
world
3,
4.
é,
]s,w. This parasite has also been found
infecting a wide variety of animals W*.
Recent data on Cryptosporidium infection
in humans have been obtained from studies
car-ried out in population groups of Costa R i c a
9
and Venezuela
1 1 where it occurs more frequenty
during the warmer, rainy and humid months of
the year (May-August). It may also cause severe
disease in patients whose immunity has been
affected 12,17,18 and is a common finding among
homosexual patients with AIDS (acquired
im-munodeficiency syndrome) W ° .
In our study, specimens were obtained from
61 children (1-2 years old) who were followed
for 9 months, and who belong to a low
socio-economic area of Belém, Brazil. 150 Faecal
samples were obtained, 94 from diarrhoeic
tients and 56 from non diarrhoeic control
pa-tients.
The detection of Cryptosporidium was by a
modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining
5, as illustrated
in Fig. 1A, which allows a presumptive
diagno-sis. Confirmation was by both Giemsa (Pig. IB)
and Auraminerhodamine staining methods. The
specimens were also processed for Salmonella,
Shigella and Escherichia coli (classic serotypes,
enteroinvasive and enterotoxigenic strains), and
for rotaviruses, enteroviruses and adenoviruses.
Faeces were also examined for intestinal
para-sites.
Cryptosporidium was found in three
(3.19%) of the 94 samples. In two cases
(speci-men numbers 24.168 and 23.997) this was the
only pathogen found, while in the 3rd.
(num-ber 24.004) it was associated with Entamoeba
histolytica, Entamoeba coli, Endolimax nana,
Chilomastix mesnili and Pentatricbomonas
ho-minis. All non diarrhoeic control patients were
negative for Cryptosporidium.
Our findings suggest that Cryptosporidium
may be a causative agent of diarroea among
children, since no viruses or enteropathogenic
bacteria were detected in any of these cases.
We would also like to stress that this is the
( 1 ) I n s t i t u t o E v a n d r o C h a g a s , F u n d a ç ã o S e r v i ç o s d e S a ú d e P ú b l i c a , M i n i s t é r i o d a S a ú d e , C a i x a P o s t a l 621 — 66.000,
B e l é m , P A , B r a s i l
( 2 ) I n s t i t u t o d e I n v e s t i g a c i o n e s e n S a l u d ( I N I S A ) , C i u d a d U n i v e r s i t á r i a " R o d r i g o F a c i o " , U n i v e r s i d a d d e C o s t a R i c a
C o s t a R i c a
Amostras de Cryptosporidium sp foram
de-tectadas das fezes de três crianças com
diar-réia aguda. Em dois casos nenhum outro
agen-te foi registrado, concomitanagen-temenagen-te, e no agen-
ter-ceiro caso, esse coccidio estava associado com
Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba coli, Endo¬
limax nana, Chilomastix mesnili e Pentatricho¬
monas hominis.
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