A total of 330 stool samples from children less than 6 years of age
from different areas in Qalyobia Governorate were examined for cryptosporidiosis.
Stool samples were subjected to the direct wet smear method
and Sheather's sugar flotation and stained with Modified Ziehl-Neelsen.
The infection rate was 15.56% & 17.9% in children with diarrhea and
those in contact animals, respectively. The main clinical presentation of
diarrheic children was vomiting (27.3%) and loss of weight (18.2%). There
was a relation between feeding habit and cryptosporidiosis, where the infection
rate was none among breast feed child with statistical significant
differences and 7% St 3% among artificially feed child with diarrhea and
those in contact with animals, respectively. Samples from water supplies
of different areas showed an over all infection rate of 45.33% with C. parvum
oocyts. The infection in animals was 20.0% in sheep. 22.5% in buffaloes,
23.7% in cows and 25.9% in goats. The epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis
was discussed. |
