title: Prevalence of diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium parvum in non-HIV patients in Jeollanam-do, Korea.
abstract: The present study investigated the prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium parvum as a cause of diarrhea. We examined 942 stools of unidentified reasons occurring in patients in whom no immunosuppression had been detected. We examined the stools for Cryptosporidium parvum via modified acid-fast staining. The clinical records of all of the positive patients were then analyzed. Nine (1%) of the stools among the 942 diarrheal patients were positive for C. parvum. The positive rate in the males was 1.1% (6/522) and the positive rate of the females was 0.7% (3/420). Age distribution revealed that the highest positive rates were in patients in their sixties, with a positive rate of 2.5% (4/158). In the clinical tests, levels of c-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and neutrophil proportions were normally increased in the peripheral blood, whereas the lymphocyte proportion exhibited a tendency towards decrease. The pathological findings were compatible with an inflammatory reaction in the host.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Chungju 380-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Kyu
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hyeon Je
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jae Ran
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D003458:Cryptosporidium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006801:Humans; D007121:Immunocompetence; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D013194:Staining and Labeling