title: Prevalence of cryptosporidiosis among the villagers and domestic animals in several rural areas of Korea.
abstract: The present study was undertaken to investigate the infection status of Cryptosporidium parvum in the villagers and the reservoir hosts in several rural areas in Korea. A total 5,262 fecal samples were collected from the inhabitants residing at Gangwon-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Jeollanam-do, and Gyeongsangnam-do between the dates of September, 2001 to June, 2002. In addition, 1,453 fecal samples were collected from livestock reared in Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do and Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do. All the fecal smears were prepared by formalin-ether sedimentation, and examined by light microscopy after modified acid-fast staining. The overall positive rate of human cryptosporidiosis was 3.3%. Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do showed a 8.2% positive rate and appeared as the highest endemic area among the surveyed areas. Haman-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do showed a 0.4% positive rate and was the lowest endemic area. The positive rate of livestock infection in Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do was 94%, which was more than ten times higher than that of Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do (9.3%). From these results, it was revealed that cryptosporidiosis was an endemic disease in some rural areas of Korea, and the livestock could be an important source of human infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Chungju 380-701, Republic of Korea. jaeran.yu@kku.ac.kr
authors.forename: Jae-Ran
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jong-Kyu
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Seok-Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Woon-Mok
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Sohn
authors.forename: Sun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huh
authors.forename: Hae-Yeon
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Tong-Soo
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000469:parasitology*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology