Intra-familial and extra-familial risk factors associated with Cryptosporidium parvum infection among children hospitalized for diarrhea in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil.

Abstract

Abstract.A cross-sectional study was conducted for assessing the prevalence of and risk factors associated with Cryptosporidium parvum in diarrheic children who were hospitalized in Goiânia, capital of Goiás State in Brazil. A crude prevalence of 14.4% (64 of 445) was observed using a direct immunfluorescent assay (DFA), but the true prevalence was 18.7% (83 of 445) when a gold standard of immunomagnetic separation was used in combination with the DFA. Infection was more predominant in children less than 24 months old (odds ratio [OR] ‫ס‬ 0.50, 90% confidence interval [CI] ‫ס‬ 0.36-0.68, P ‫ס‬ 0.0001), and males were 2.2 times more at risk for infection when compared with females (OR ‫ס‬ 2.2, 90% CI ‫ס‬ 0.13-3.8, P ‫ס‬ 0.01). The socioeconomic, intra-familial, and environmental factors associated with cryptosporidiosis were day care attendance, household children with diarrhea up to 30 days prior to the interview, contact with surface water within past 30 days prior to the interview, dwelling distance from a body of water, and the late rainy season (P < 0.10). C. parvum was not associated with the parent's occupation, household sleeping arrangements, number of caregivers, breast-fed children, diet and type of food hygiene, source and type of treatment of drinking water, presence of sewage, and animal exposure (P > 0.10). Although weight was not found to be associated with infection, children infected with C. parvum weighed on average 2.0% less than children not infected with C. parvum (P > 0.10). Thus, C. parvum is an important etiologic agent of childhood diarrhea and should be identified in routine parasitologic tests of diarrheal stool samples.

A multiattribute utility evaluation for the detection of Cryptosporidium species in stool

“…In cryptosporidiosis surveillance, the proportion of females was found to be 1.15 times higher in females as compared to males [25]. However, Pereira et al (2002) have also shown that the risk of infection among male patients was 2.2 times higher as compared to that in females among children hospitalized for diarrhea in Brazil. Kimani et al (2012) have observed the proportion of males to be 3.35 times higher as compared to that of females in a study conducted at Kenya.…”

Waterborne Giardia and Cryptosporidium: contamination of human drinking water by sewage and cattle feces

“…Timely studies conducted in urban and rural areas identified prevalence rates ranging from 0.03% to 12.9%, with the highest rates being in children attending daycare centers (GONÇALVES et al, 2006;ANARUMA FILHO et al, 2007;BRANCO et al, 2011;LANDER et al, 2012;ROLANDO et al, 2012). However, in children with diarrhea, the prevalence tends to increase, with rates ranging from 18.7% to 32.4% (PEREIRA et al, 2002;NASCIMENTO et al, 2009). Most of the Brazilian studies used optical microscopy combined with differential color methods as a screening method for Cryptosporidium spp., which has low sensitivity compared to molecular techniques (ELSAFI et al, 2013).…”

Fatores de risco e etiologia infecciosa da doença diarreica no Município de Juruti, Estado do Pará, Brasil

“…O rotavírus é o principal agente viral relacionado à diarreia aguda infantil 10 , no entanto outros vírus, como norovírus e astrovírus, são responsáveis por casos isolados de diarreia aguda 11 e por surtos 12 . Entre os protozoários, Cryptosporidium, Giardia lamblia e Entamoeba histolytica 13,14,15 são os mais comuns relacionados aos quadros diarreicos infantis. A frequência destes enteropatógenos torna-se elevada em crianças de baixa renda que vivem em condições sanitárias insatisfatórias, diferentemente do que acontece com os vírus que podem ser encontrados associados à diarreia aguda independente da situação econômica ou social da população 16 .…”