ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Document seasonality occurrence and epidemiologic characteristics of Cyclospora cayetanensis infections during a 10-year period from patients consulting at the University Hospital, Honduras. METHODS: Retrospective non interventional hospital-based study analyzed laboratory results from the period 2002 to 2011 of fresh and Ziehl-Nielsen carbolfuchsin stained routine stool samples received for parasitologic examination. Sporadically a sample with numerous oocysts was allowed to sporulate in 2.5 % potassium dichromate confirming the presence of bi-cystic bi-zoic oocysts. RESULTS: A total of 35,157 fecal samples were examined during a ten-year span, of which a third (28.4 %) was stained by the Ziehl-Neelsen carbolfuchsin method diagnosing a total of 125 (1.3 %) C.cayetanensis infections. A statistically significant apparent seasonality was observed most years during May to August (range p < 0.036-0.001), with 83.3 % of 125 cases occurring in those rainy months. All C. cayetanensis cases came from urban poor neighborhoods; male/female relation was 1:1 except in 2006, when all patients were females (p = 0.05; r(2) = 22,448). Forty four point eight percent of the stool samples were diarrheic or liquid and 65.6 % infections were identified in children 10 years old or less. Enteric helminths and protozoa co-infected Cyclospora positive patients in 52 instances.: 8 % Ascaris lumbricoides, 8 % Giardia duodenalis, 23.2 % Blastocystis spp. and less frequently Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar, Strongyloides stercoralis, and Trichuris trichiura. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest a seasonal pattern for Cyclospora infections diagnosed in a clinical setting during the rainy months in Tegucigalpa and surrounding areas. Community studies should be conducted to support or dispute these observations.
Subject(s)
Cyclospora/isolation & purification , Cyclosporiasis/epidemiology , Seasons , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Animals , Child , Child, Preschool , Coinfection/epidemiology , Coinfection/parasitology , Cyclosporiasis/parasitology , Feces/parasitology , Female , Helminths/isolation & purification , Honduras/epidemiology , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective Studies , Young AdultABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess prevalence and intensity of soil-transmitted helminths (STH) in school age children of two southern districts as baseline information prior to implement a deworming program against intestinal parasites as part of an integrated country development plan. METHODS: Children randomly selected from urban and rural schools in Southern Belize provided one stool sample each, analysed by the Kato-Katz method to assess prevalence and intensity of STH infections. Epi Info software was used for data analysis; Chi-square test and Fischer exact test were applied to compare group proportions; P<0.05 was considered of statistical significance; descriptive statistics were expressed as percentages. RESULTS: A total of 500 children from 10 schools participated in the study from May to December 2005. Prevalence of STH ranged between 40% and 82% among schools, with a median of 59.2%; the majority of light intensity, and with 2.2% high intensity infection. Trichuris and Ascaris infections presented similar frequency in children aged from 6 to 9 years old; hookworm infections tended to be more frequent in the older group 10 to 12 years old. Statistical significances (P≤0.01) were found in children in rural schools infected with any species of STH, in moderate Trichuris infections, in hookworm infections in rural areas with strong Mayan presence and in Ascaris infections in children of Mayan origin. CONCLUSIONS: High prevalence of STH in Southern Belize provided sound ground for implementing an integrated deworming control program.
ABSTRACT
Se presenta una actualización sobre cyclospora cayetanensis, organismo conocido inicialmente como "Cuerpos parecidos a cyanobacteria" o "CLB", identificado en 1993 como un parásito del Phylum Apicomplexa, que en el humano causa enfermedad entérica. Filogenéticamente se relaciona con Eimeria; los ooquistes inmaduros expulsados en heces forman en varios días dos esporoquistes dizoicos. Clinicamente la enfermedad es indistinguible de una isosporiasis o una criptosporidiosis, afectando individuos normales de todas las edades. Se diagnosticó en 11.3 por ciento de haitianos con infección VIH. Produce diarrea de semanas de duración, acompañada de retortijón, fiebre, dolor muscular, anorexia, nausea y cefalea. Remite espontáneamente, seguida de un ciclo de recaídas durante varias semanas. En pacientes haitianos tratados con trimetropim sulfametoxazol por 10 días los síntomas remitieron entre 1 y 5 días y las heces se negativizaron en 2.5 días. En Honduras entre 1985 y 1991 se registró 19 casos y de 1991 a 1996 29 casos adicionales, diagnosticados por frote de heces o en una coloración ácido resistente modificada. Veintiuno eran mujeres y 27 hombres, con edades entre 1 y 41 años. La consistencia de las heces era formada en 12, blanda en 11, diarreica en 8 y liquida en 14; en 3 esto no fue informado. De los últimos 29 casos, solamente 6 expedientes fueron encontrados retrospectivamente, en los que se inidicaba una historia de diarrea entre 2 días y 5 semanas de duración. En un estudio prospectivo en Honduras (1996), se encontró cyclospora en 6.8 por ciento (9 de 133) de pacientes VIH positivos
