Cryptosporidiosis in patients with diarrhoea in five hospitals in Nigeria.

A total of 413 soft, loose or watery stool specimens from patients with acute diarrhoea were screened for presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts. Safranin-methylene blue staining technique was used for detecting Cryptosporidium oocysts in the stool samples. The oocysts were identified in 52 (12.5 per cent) of the samples, while 69 samples (16.7 per cent) showed mixed infections. Children between the ages of 2 and 15 years were most infected by this parasite while infection occurred more in females than males for all age groups. These findings indicate that Cryptosporidium is an important etiologic agent of diarrhoea. Hence there is need to include its identification in laboratory analysis of diarrhoeal stool samples.