Prevalence of Cryptosporidium in children referred to oncology center of Imam Khomeini hospital in Urmia, Iran

Objective: To determine the cryptosporidiosis in immunocompromised and cancerous children referred to oncology center of Imam Khomeini hospital in Urmia city, West Azerbaijan province, Northwest Iran.

Methodology: This case - control study was performed on 72 children (case) with cancer who were referred to oncology clinic of Urmia Imam Hospital. Another 30 children with normal immune system were selected as controls. To determine the amount of contamination with Cryptosporidium, two fecal specimens were collected from each patient and control group. After being concentrated with Formalin-Ether, these specimens were examined using modified acid fast method.

Results: Three cases of cryptosporidiosis were seen in the patients (4.16%). Of these, there were two patients from the rural area and one from urban region. There was no significant relationship between the presence of cryptosporidiosis and living in rural or urban areas. No oocystic form of Cryptosporidium was detected in the control group.

Conclusions: Since children suffering from cancer are at risk of to acquiring many infections, general preventive measures against infection must be taken and patients must be screened for opportunistic parasites during chemotherapy.