Investigation of the Frequency of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia intestinalis in Patients with Suppressed Immune System

Year 2022, Volume: 8 Issue: 3, 225 - 228, 03.10.2022

Mehmet Tevfik Bayraktar , Medine Cömert , Ali Öztürk

https://doi.org/10.30934/kusbed.1156716

Abstract

Objective: Giardia intestinalis and Cryptosporidium spp. are important agents causing diarrhea in developing and developed countries. If untreated, these agents may cause severe life-threatening diarrhea, especially in immunocompromised people and children. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of Cryptosporidium spp. and G. intestinalis in the stool samples of immunocompromised patients who applied to Harran University Research and Application Hospital.
Methods: This study was carried out with a total of 100 patients with immunosuppression and diarrhea who were admitted to our hospital between January 2017 and January 2019. Cryptosporidium spp. and G. intestinalis antigens were investigated in stool samples of the patients by immunochromatographic (IC) method and oocyst, and cyst-trophozoite were examined with Native-Lugol and Kinyoun acid-fast staining.
Results: G. intestinalis was detected in eight (8%) patients. Seven of them (14%) were pediatric patients (n=50) and one (2%) was an adult female patient (n=50). Cryptosporidium spp. was detected in 3 (3%) patients. Of these, two (4%) were children patients and one (2%) was an adult female patient. Our results also demonstrated that both Cryptosporidium and Giardia were more found in immunocompromised patients, especially in pediatric ones (4% and 14% respectively).
Conclusion: Although the cost of the IC method, which detects antigens in stool samples is high, it is easy to work with, provides early results and it also helps to overcome the difficulties in active diagnostic methods. Despite the limited number of investigated samples, our findings showed that the incidence of infections from these two parasites is higher than in other studies conducted in Turkey or European countries.

Keywords

Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium spp, chromatographic method, immunosuppressed, diarrhea

Supporting Institution

This study was supported by Harran University Scientific Research Coordinatorship (HÜBAK)

Project Number

16167

Bağışıklık Sistemi Baskılanmış Hastalarda Cryptosporidium spp. ve Giardia intestinalis Sıklığının Araştırılması

Abstract

Amaç: Giardia intestinalis ve Cryptosporidium spp. türleri gelişmiş ve gelişmekte olan ülkelerde ishale neden olan bağırsak parazitleridir. Özelikle bağışıklık sistemi baskılanmış hastalarda ve çocuklarda tedavi edilemediğinde ölümcül olabilmektedir. Bu çalışmada Harran Üniversitesi Araştırma ve Uygulama Hastanesine başvuran bağışıklık sistemi baskılanmış hastaların dışkı örneklerinde Cryptosporidium spp. ve G.intestinalis sıklığının araştırılması amaçlanmıştır.
Yöntem: Bu çalışma Ocak 2017 ve Ocak 2019 yılları arasında hastanemize başvuran bağışıklık sistemi baskılanmış ve ishal şikâyeti olan toplam 100 hasta ile gerçekleştirildi. Hastaların dışkı örneklerinde immünokromatografik (İK) metot ile Cryptosporidium spp. ve G. intestinalis antijenleri arandı ve nativ-lugol ve kinyoun asit fast boyama ile ookist, kist-trofozoit açısından incelendi.
Bulgular: Toplam sekiz (%8) hastada G. intestinalis saptandı. Bunlardan yedisi (%14) çocuk hasta (n=50) ve biri (%2) yetişkin (n=50) bir kadın hasta olduğu tespit edildi. Hastaların 3 (%3)’ünde ise Cryptosporidium spp. görüldü. Bunlardan ikisi (%4) çocuk ve biri (%2) yetişkin kadın hastalar idi. Sonuçlarımız hem Cryptosporidium hem de G. intestinalis’in bağışıklık sistemi baskılanmış çocuk hastalarda (sırasıyla %4 ve %14) daha fazla saptandığını göstermiştir.
Sonuç: Dışkı örneklerinde antijen saptayan İK metodun maliyeti yüksek olmasına rağmen çalışması kolay, erken sonuç vermesi ve etkensel tanı yöntemlerindeki zorluklara yardımcı olduğu görülmektedir. Sınırlı sayıda araştırılmış örnek bulunmasına rağmen bulgularımız bu iki parazitten kaynaklı enfeksiyonların Türkiye'de veya Avrupa ülkelerinde yapılan diğer çalışmalardaki görülme sıklığından daha yüksek olduğunu gösterdi.

Keywords

Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium spp., kromatografik metot, bağıklık sistemi baskılanmış, ishal

Project Number

16167

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