Abstract
Cryptosporidium was known as a cause of severe diarrhea in immuno deficient patients. Recently it appeared to be also involved in normal population. A 12 month prospective study was performed in Tours, a town with a mainly rural population, in children hospitalized with diarrhea. 200 stools from 190 children were evaluated for the presence of Cryptosporidium by a sugar flotation method. 4 children had positive stools. Stools were watery and contained mucus, without any blood, in 2 cases. In 3 cases, the diarrhea was acute and of short duration, with dehydratation and vomiting. All 4 children were immunocompetent. Our 4 cases were negative for rotavirus and bacteria, but two had Candida albicans in the stools Control stools from the 4 children were negative for Cryptosporidium within one month, but one was found positive for Giardia. The members of the 4 cases families (total, 11 persons) had negative stools. 2 patients were in 2 different day-care centers; the stools of all the other children were negative (total, 37 children) This 12 month study demonstrated that cryptosporidiosis can be found in immunocompetent children with diarrhea, witb a frequency of 2.1 percent. Furthermore, precautions must be taken to avoid possible contamination of hospitalized immune deficient patients.
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Maurage, C., Naciri, M. & Arnaud-Battandier, F. CRYPTOSPORIDIOSIS IN IMMUNOCOMPETENT CHILDREN: EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY IN DIARRHEA. Pediatr Res 20, 703 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198607000-00107
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198607000-00107