The aim of this study was to recognize the prevalence of Cryptosporidium among cases of diarrhea, also to correlate cryptosporidiosis infection with epidemiological factors as age group, sex, residence and animal contact. Also, the study aimed to compare different methods of diagnosis as modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining, ELISA, IF AT.
The present study was performed on 120 patients complaining of severe, moderate and mild diarrhea (55, 39, and 26cases) respectively. They were 80 males (66.7%) and 40 (33.3%) females, their mean age was (32.45±3.56).
Cryptosporidium is important and dangerous cause of diarrhea especially in developing countries. Cryptosporidium is mostly accompanied with severe form of diarrhea, in young age group living in rural areas with animal contact.
Modified Ziehl Neelsen stain gave good sensitivity but less specificity, while IF AT gave good sensitivity and specificity. ELISA proved more reliable, rapid, especially for epidemiological study.