ABSTRACT

In this study, difficulties in the effective diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis were considered. Fecal samples of 80 patients who applied to our clinic with gastrointestinal complaints were analyzed for the presence of cryptosporidiosis by the acid-fast staining method and ELISA kit (R-Biopharm, Germany) which detects the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. specific antibodies. The results of ELISA were compared with the results of the acid-fast stain and the question of whether ELISA can be used for effective diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis was investigated. Out of 80 fecal samples, 3 samples (3.75 %) were found to be positive for oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp. with the acid-fast stain and 5 samples (6.25 %) were found to be positive with ELISA. Three samples were found to be positive with both methods. In this study, the sensitivity, specificity, negative preductivity and positive preductivity with Cryptosporidium ELISA kit were 60%, 100%, 97.4% and 100%, respectively. These findings showed us that. ELISA should be considered as the choice of method for the diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis in patients who have had diarrhea for a long-period of time, even though the method is more costly.