Cryptosporidiosis in some Caribbean children and an evaluation of the efficacy of tests used for its laboratory diagnosis

ABSTRACT

Clinical data and samples of diarrhoeal stools were taken from 160 paediatric patients at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (POSGH), Trinidad (120), and the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica (40). Of the 33 patients found to be Cryptosporidium-positive, diarrhoea, fever, vomiting and abdominal pain were the main presenting features. The mean age of positive patients was 4.0 ñ 4.03 years and the average duration of symptoms was 5.3 ñ 6.9 days with a mean of 7.1 ñ 3.7 bowel motions per day. In the laboratory there was a 20.6 percent Cryptosporidium-positive rate by the ELISA technique, while the Ziehl Neilson (ZN) preparation only gave a 1.25 percent, and the wet preparation a 0 percent rate. The unit costs of the tests were as follows ELISA (US $7.00), ZN (US$2.00), Wet preparation (US$ 1.00). The high level of specificity and sensitivity recommends the ELISA technique above the other methods (AU)