Prevalence of Cryptosporidium, Blastocystis, and other opportunistic infections in patients with primary and acquired immunodeficiency

Abstract

Intestinal opportunistic infections are often caused by unicellular parasites. Individuals with decreased immunity are particularly susceptible to infection by said microorganisms, and when they are infected, diarrhea can be the main clinical manifestation. However, intestinal parasites have rarely been taken into account in intestinal disorders. In our study, an investigation was conducted to determine the prevalence of intestinal micro-pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Blastocystis, and microsporidia, in hospitalized patients with different immunological statuses. The study at hand indicates that protozoan parasitic infections are rare among immunodeficient patients in Poland. The overall prevalence of micro-pathogens among participants was 4.6%; it was three times higher in adults (12.5%) than in children (2.3%). Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora species (Apicomplexa) were diagnosed as the main cause of heavy diarrhea. Accordingly, adult patients were positive mainly for Blastocystis and microsporidia, while children were more often infected with the Cryptosporidium species.

Contributors

Małgorzata Bednarska: [e-mail]

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Parasitol Res

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Parasitol. Res

Title: Parasitology Research

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg (Berlin/Heidelberg )

ISSN (Print): 0932-0113

ISSN (Electronic): 1432-1955

Publication date (Electronic): 26 June 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 26 June 2018

Publication date (Print): 2018

Volume: 117

Issue: 9

Pages: 2869-2879

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0004 1937 1290, GRID grid.12847.38, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Biology, , University of Warsaw, ; Warsaw, Poland

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2232 2498, GRID grid.413923.e, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Nutritional Disorders and Pediatrics, , Children’s Memorial Health Institute, ; Warsaw, Poland

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2205 7719, GRID grid.414852.e, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Clinical Oncology, , Medical Center for Postgraduate Education, ; Warsaw, Poland

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2232 2498, GRID grid.413923.e, Immunology Clinic, , Children’s Memorial Health Institute, ; Warsaw, Poland

[5 ]Department of Pediatry, Children’s Hospital, Otwock, Poland

Author notes

Section Editor: Kevin S.W. Tan

Article

Publisher ID: 5976

DOI: 10.1007/s00436-018-5976-6

PMC ID: 6105259

PubMed ID: 29946765

Copyright statement: © The Author(s) 2018

License:

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Funding

Funded by: Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Warsaw, Poland

Award ID: N N404101036

Award Recipient : Małgorzata Bednarska

Categories

Subject: Original Paper

Custom metadata

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