A Survey of the Prevalence of Some Agents Particularly Cryptosporidium to Produce Diarrhea among Children Referred to Tehran Children's Medical Center

Nowadays one of the problems in developing countries is pediatric diseases and their mortalities. In this respect diarrhea plays a significant role. Cryptosporidium is recognized as an important widespread cause of severe and prolonged diarrhea mainly in immunocompromised or malnourished children, but there is no attention to identifying the parasite. The present study was designed and undertaken to assess the prevalence rate of agents causing diarrhea and determine the role of cryptosporidium and its relationship to some potential risk factors. In this cross-sectional study carried out during twelve months(from June 2002 to June 2003), stool samples from 420 children under 10 years of age with diarrhea who were admitted to Tehran Children Medical Center were screened. To identify parasites, direct smear, formalin-ether and modified acid fast staining techniques were applied. In addition, in order to distinguish pathogenic bacteria, differential media and polyvalent standard antisera were used. The obtained data was analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics, i.e. Chi-square, t-test and Fisher exact test. This study showed that after bacteria, parasites were important causes of diarrhea, and cryptosporidium(2.4%) following giardia(2.9%) was the second parasite isolated in children with diarrhea. Statistical analysis of our results indicated that existence of cryptosporidium was significantly related to the presence of mucus in stool(P<0.003), immune deficiency(P<0.01), and age(P<0.017). This study emphasized that laboratories include appropriate diagnostic techniques for cryptosporidium in the routine examination of watery or mucoid diarrheal stool specimens, particularly for immunosuppressed patients.