The Genus Cyclospora (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae), with a description of Cyclospora schneideri n.sp. in the snake Anilius scytale scytale (Aniliidae) from Amazonian Brazil: a review

A review is made of the recorded species of the coccidian genus Cyclospora and major events leading up to the discovery of C. cayetanensis, which is responsible for serious outbreaks of diarrhoea in man and is one of the aetiological agents of "traveller's diarrhoea". Humans appear to be the specific hosts, with the entire life-cycle in the intestine: to date there is no convincing evidence that the disease is a zoonosis. A description is given of oocysts and endogenous stages of C. schneideri n.sp., in the snake Anilius scytale scytale. Sporulation is exogenous and completed after about one week at 24-26°. Mature oocysts 19.8 Î 16.6 (15.1 Î 13.8-25.7 Î 20.1), shape-index 1.2 (1.0-1.3): no oocyst residuum or polar bodies. Oocyst wall a single colourless, smooth layer with no micropyle: it is rapidly deformed or broken. Sporocysts 13.6 Î 9.4 (11.3 Î 8.3-15.1 Î 9.9), shape-index 1.4 (1.2-1.5) with an inconspicuous Stieda body. Sporozoites 11-13 Î 2.5-3. Endogenous stages are intracytoplasmic in the epithelial cells of the small intestine and with the characters of the Eimeriorina.

Cyclospora cayetanensis--an emerging coccidian parasite.

Over the last decade increasing number of enteritis cases have been attributed to infection with a new coccidian sp that was named Cyclospora cayetanensis in 1993. Diarrhoea caused by this agent is clinically indistinguishable from cryptosporidiasis, isosporiasis and microsporidiasis but cyclospora infection are often very prolonged (upto 15 weeks) and may cause severe weight loss. Diagnosis is important because unlike diarrhoea caused by cryptosporidium and microsporidium, treatment with co-trimoxazole is effective. We report here a case of cyclosporiasis, to increase awareness of possibility of cyclospora infection in patients with prolonged diarrhoea. It should be considered in assessment of patients with unexplained prolonged diarrhoeal illness.