Three-step stool examination for cryptosporidiosis in 10 homosexual men with protracted watery diarrhea.

Cryptosporidiosis, a zoonosis caused by Cryptosporidium species, is a newly recognized coccidial protozoan infection causing severe protracted watery diarrhea in humans. In August 1981, the first case of cryptosporidiosis in a homosexual man with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was reported; diagnosis was determined by intestinal biopsy. It is necessary to adopt a simple laboratory diagnostic procedure to screen large numbers of suspected cases. A three-step stool examination was developed to demonstrate Cryptosporidium oocysts and the diagnostic and infective stages of the infection in 10 homosexual men with AIDS. This is a less invasive, less costly, and more sensitive test than intestinal biopsy and has been designed to prevent confusion caused by yeast cells that are frequently present in stool, leading to a false diagnosis. The examination consists of preliminary differential determination by iodine wet mount, definitive identification by modified Kinyoun acid-fast staining, and a more effective method of concentrating oocysts, by Sheather's sugar cover-slip flotation method.