CYCLOSPORA CAYETANENSIS ASSOCIATED WITH WATERY DIARRHEA IN PERUVIAN PATIENTS

Citation
R. Zerpa et al., CYCLOSPORA CAYETANENSIS ASSOCIATED WITH WATERY DIARRHEA IN PERUVIAN PATIENTS, Journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 98(5), 1995, pp. 325-329
Citations number
17
Categorie Soggetti
Tropical Medicine","Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
ISSN journal
00225304
Volume
98
Issue
5
Year of publication
1995
Pages
325 - 329
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-5304(1995)98:5<325:CCAWWD>2.0.ZU;2-0
Abstract
Acid-fast, coccidian-like bodies (Cyclospora cayetanensis) were identi fied over the last 18 months in the stools of seven Peruvian patients suffering from diarrhoea. The follow-up of two patients revealed a wat ery, self-limited diarrhoea, which lasted for up to four weeks. The or ganism was simultaneously identified in the diarrhoeal stools of three members of the same family who drank unchlorinated canal water and in the stools of a duck bred by this family. The organism was not found in the faecal samples of 50 healthy subjects and 10 ducks bred by fami lies without known diarrhoea cases. These findings, albeit preliminary , may be suggesting that besides consumption of untreated water, addit ional modes of transmission such as contact with domestic animals may be important in this disease. Further studies are needed to assess whe ther this disease behaves as a zoonotic condition and to ascertain the relative importance of symptom-free subjects in person-to-person tran smission of the organism.