ABSTRACT

This study surveyed the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in patients who were treated in Dumlupinar University Medical Faculty Hospital for various gastrointestinal complaints such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Water samples were taken from various homes and fountains.

Stool samples were investigated for the presence of oocysts with Kinyoun’s carbol fuchsin staining method. After miscroscopic analysis, samples were preserved. These frozen samples were thawed promptly for antigenic diagnosis (Ridascreen®, R-Biopharm AG, Darmstadt Germany). Thirty units of ten-liter water samples were filtered by a vacuum pump (45 µm). Filtered materials were stained through Kinyoun’s carbol fuchsin staining method and examined.

Stool samples taken from a total of 146 patients were examined for oocyst presence and 4 individuals (2.7 percent) were found to be positive. Elisa tests of the same samples proved 5 individuals (3.4 percent) as positive for specific antigens. Only one water sample was diagnosed as positive for oocysts.

Cryptosporidiosis was found to be present in 3.4 percent of this group of people, and the distribution of infection among subjects was understood to be not statistically meaningful by gender, age and identification methods (p>0.05). Finding of oocysts in only one sample out of 30 (3.3%) led to a need for reconsideration of other causal factors in the epidemiology. (Turkiye Parazitol Derg 2013; 37: 9-12)

Keywords: Cryptosporidiosis, epidemiology, water