Infection by Cryptosporidium parvum in renal patients submitted to renal transplant or hemodialysis

• Main Authors: Chieffi Pedro Paulo, Sens Yvoty A.S., Paschoalotti Maria Aparecida, Miorin Luiz Antonio, Silva Hélio Gomes C., Jabur Pedro
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 1998
• Subjects: Cryptosporidiosis; Cryptosporidium parvum; Renal transplantation; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/0fb64be9bd104ca29a9720762dd6589c

The frequency of infection by Cryptosporidium parvum was determined in two groups of renal patients submitted to immunosuppression. One group consisted of 23 renal transplanted individuals, and the other consisted of 32 patients with chronic renal insufficiency, periodically submitted to hemodialysis. A third group of 27 patients with systemic arterial hypertension, not immunosuppressed, was used as control. During a period of 18 months all the patients were submitted to faecal examination to detect C. parvum oocysts, for a total of 1 to 6 tests per patient. The results showed frequencies of C. parvum infection of 34.8%, 25% and 17.4%, respectively, for the renal transplanted group, the patients submitted to hemodialysis and the control group. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences among the three groups even though the frequency of C. parvum infection was higher in the transplanted group. However, when the number of fecal samples containing C. parvum oocysts was taken in account, a significantly higher frequency was found in the renal transplanted group.