Cryptosporidium Sp. Findings and its symptomatology among immunocompromised patients

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cryptosporidium sp. is an apicomplexan protozoa, and it is related to an immunocompromised state. As it develops diverse clinical manifestations, mild to life-threatening conditions, administration of anti-parasitic medication and its management remain problematic. AIM: The study aimed to provide Cryptosporidiosis symptomatology and its prevalence among HIV-infected patients in a tertiary referral hospital, Haji Adam Malik General Hospital, Medan, Indonesia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Symptomatology was noted using short-questionnaire, and laboratory findings were obtained from the hospital medical record registry on the same day of admission. We enrolled 24 patients were suffered from HIV infection for a certain period and more than one-week diarrhoea including 18 males and 6 females. Routine faeces examination using wet mount, Kinyoun-gabet, and trichrome staining was performed for all samples in Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia. Numerical data were evaluated using the Mann-Whitney test while Fisher Exact test was used to determine any association between categorical variables. RESULTS: Our study found that 8 of 24 patients were positive with Cryptosporidium sp. while its symptomatology including abdominal cramp (66.7%), nausea and vomiting (70.8%), and fever (62.5%) is prevalent from our study. We obtained significant association between CD4 cell count (p = 0.006), diarrhea duration (p = 0.007), abdominal pain (p = 0.005), and nausea and vomiting (p = 0.021) with cryptosporidiosis. CONCLUSION: High consideration of several symptoms related to cryptosporidiosis leads a clinician to initiate prompt management particularly in a high-risk population.