[Incidence of Cryptosporidium in Zaragoza: an 8-year study (1989-1996)].

BACKGROUND

To study the incidence of Cryptosporidium infections over an eight year period in an urban area, together with the patients background and the season of the year.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From January 1989 to December 1996, all 32,733 stool samples from 13,639 patients: children and immunocompromised adults, with presumed infective diarrhoea, were investigated for Cryptosporidium oocysts by the Department of Microbiology, Miguel Servet Hospital, Zaragoza (Spain).

RESULTS

Cryptosporidial infection was identified in a 3% of the total children, been the positivity rate highest in the 2-year old group. We visualized oocysts in the 8% of the immunocompromised patients, all of them HIV-positive. The prevalence was higher in winter (February-March).

CONCLUSIONS

According to these findings we conclude that Cryptosporidium should be systematically searched by clinical laboratories, specially in children and in immunocompromised patients suffering from infectious diarrhoea.