Title
Epidemiology and treatment of Cyclospora cayetanensis infection in Peruvian children
Date Issued
01 January 1997
Resource Type
research article
Author(s)
Madico G.
McDonald J.
Sterling C.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Abstract
Cyclospora cayetanensis was detected in fecal specimens from 63 (1.1%) of 5,836 Peruvian children studied over 2 years; the protozoan was detected by modified acid-fast staining and autofluorescence under ultraviolet light. The highest prevalence occurred among children between 2 and 4 years of age. Thirty-two percent (20) of the 63 C. cayetanensis-infected children were symptomatic. Nineteen infected children were enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a 3-day course of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ; 5/25 mg/[kg·d]). Children were followed up with daily stool examinations (mean number of samples examined per child ± SE, 19 ± 4). The mean duration of oocyst excretion ± SE was 4.8 ± 1.2 days for TMP-SMZ recipients compared with 12.1 ± 6.1 days for placebo recipients (P < .02). The prevalence of C. cayetanensis infection decreases during winter months and as children age; it decreases precipitously by adulthood. In children in areas of endemicity, C. cayetanensis usually causes mild disease that is often asymptomatic. TMP-SMZ therapy significantly decreases the duration of oocyst excretion.
Start page
977
End page
981
Volume
24
Issue
5
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Enfermedades infecciosas
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0030893862
PubMed ID
Source
Clinical Infectious Diseases
ISSN of the container
10584838
Sponsor(s)
Received 10 June 1996; revised 25 September 1996. Verbal consent was obtained from the subject's guardian or the subject. This study was approved by the ethics committees of The Johns Hopkins University and the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Financial support: This study was supported in part by the RG-ER fund and the National Institutes of Health (1-001 AI35894-0l). Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Robert H. Gilman, Department of International Health, The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Room 5521, 615 Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus