Retrospective study of the occurrence of Cyclospora cayetanensis at Clinical Hospital of the University of São Paulo Medical School, SP

• Main Authors: Gonçalves Elenice Messias do Nascimento, Uemura Iaiko Horroiva, Castilho Vera Lúcia Pagliusi, Corbett Carlos Eduardo Pereira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2005-01-01
• Series: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Subjects: Cyclospora cayetanensis; Prevalence; Cyclosporiasis; Parasitology; Pathology; Brazil
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822005000400009

Cyclospora cayetanensis causes watery diarrhea in tropical countries, among travelers and after ingestion of contaminated water and food. Very little is known about its epidemiology, pathogenic aspects and reservoirs. In Brazil, its prevalence is unknown and to date there have been reports of three outbreaks. We report here a retrospective study of 5,015 stool samples from 4,869 patients attended at Clinical Hospital of the University of São Paulo Medical School, SP, Brazil between April 1996 and January 2002, with 14 cases of Cyclospora cayetanensis being detected there was a prevalence of 0.3%. Of the 14 infected patients, the mean age was 38 years and 71.4% were female. Ten patients presented symptoms; six presented levels of immunological markers and five patients were immunodeficient.