Cryptosporidium infection in HIV-seropositive and seronegative populations in southern Thailand.

ABSTRACT

The prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in 61 HIV-seropositive and 61 HIV-seronegative subjects (aged less than one to 67-year-old) in Songkhla City, southern Thailand was studied by a centrifugal flotation technic using sucrose solution. Most of the HIV-seropositive subjects (72%) were 20 to 39 years old. Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected in 10% (6/61) of HIV-seropositive and in 2% (1/61) of HIV-seronegative subjects. Infection rates in these two groups, however, were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The number of Cryptosporidium oocysts observed in 20 microscopic fields ranged between one and over 12,000. Among the seven Cryptosporidium-positive subjects, six were adults (18 to 42-year-old) and one was three-year-old child. All of the Cryptosporidium infected subjects were male, and two of them were passing formed (normal) feces. Biochemical findings revealed dishepatica in five of six Cryptosporidium infected HIV-seropositive subjects.