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
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.