Relationship of cryptosporidiosis to abdominal pain and diarrhea in Mayan Indians

• Autor(a) principal: Bentley, Camille
• Data de Publicação: 2004
• Outros Autores: Laubach, Harold, Spalter, Joel, Ginter, Elisa, Jensen, Lauritz
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rimtsp/article/view/30830
• topic: Cryptosporidium; Abdominal pain; Diarrhea

Demonstration of cryptosporidiosis in Mayan Indians living around Lake Atitlan provided an opportunity to correlate infection with abdominal pain and/or diarrhea in different age groups of children. 94 subjects experiencing abdominal pain and/or diarrhea, between the ages of 2 and 13 were studied in towns around Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, over a two-year period. Cryptosporidium oocysts were found in the feces of 29% of children who presented with abdominal pain and 21% with diarrhea. Of the 60 infected subjects, 45% were experiencing abdominal pain and 33% diarrhea, 22% had abdominal pain and diarrhea. Both abdominal pain and diarrhea were significantly higher in children under 10 years of age and were most prevalent in the 6-9 year old age group but the correlation of symptoms to infection was not significantly different as the ages of the children increased. The high frequency of abdominal pain and/or diarrhea with infection in children was consistent with cryptosporidiosis, a disease considered as one of several common intestinal infections that produce these symptoms.