The present study investigated the prevalence rate of Cryptosporidium parvum as a cause of diarrhea. We examined 942 stools of unidentified reasons occurring in patients in whom no immunosuppression had been detected. We examined the stools for Cryptosporidium parvum via modified acid-fast staining. The clinical records of all of the positive patients were then analyzed. Nine (1%) of the stools among the 942 diarrheal patients were positive for C. parvum. The positive rate in the males was 1.1% (6/522) and the positive rate of the females was 0.7% (3/420). Age distribution revealed that the highest positive rates were in patients in their sixties, with a positive rate of 2.5% (4/158). In the clinical tests, levels of c-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and neutrophil proportions were normally increased in the peripheral blood, whereas the lymphocyte proportion exhibited a tendency towards decrease. The pathological findings were compatible with an inflammatory reaction in the host.
Adult ; Aged ; Animals ; Child, Preschool ; Cryptosporidiosis/*epidemiology/immunology ; *Cryptosporidium/isolation & purification ; Cryptosporidium parvum/isolation & purification ; Diarrhea/*epidemiology/immunology/parasitology ; Feces/parasitology ; Female ; HIV Seronegativity ; Humans ; Immunocompetence ; Korea/epidemiology ; Lymphocyte Count ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Staining and Labeling