An Epidemiological Study of Cryptosporidiosis in Children with Diarrhea in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province

Cryptosporidium infection, which has been identified as a major cause of outbreaks of food and waterborne diseases, has raised public health concerns in developed and developing countries. In the present study, the prevalence and risk factors of cryptosporidium in diarrheal children in urban and rural communities of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province were investigated.

A total of 400 samples were randomly collected from the feces of children with diarrhea referred to Shahrekord hospitals and medical diagnostic laboratories. Stool samples were taken from the patients and part of the sample was frozen for the PCR test and part was used for modified Ziehl Neelsen staining. Samples in which cryptosporidium contamination was considered positive in terms of microscopy were also evaluated by the PCR test to determine the parasites species.

The prevalence of Cryptosporidium in the collected samples was 3.5%. The results also showed that 85% of children with cryptosporidiosis were under 6 years old and only 15% of patients were between 6 and 12 years old (P <0.05). According to the results, the prevalence of Cryptosporidium was 5% in rural areas and 2% in urban areas (P <0.05). Also, 95% of infected villagers and 85% of infected urban children had contact with animals (P <0.05). The results showed that the prevalence was higher in spring and summer than in cold seasons (P <0.05). But the results revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between males and females affected (P> 0.05). The PCR test results showed that all positive samples were Cryptosporidium parvum.

Cryptosporidium parvum is the predominant species in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, which is more prevalent in children under 6 years old, in warm seasons and rural areas, and in people who have more contact with animals.