Epidemiology of Cryptosporidium parvum in symptomatic paediatric oncology patients

Abstract

Background: Although Cryptosporidium parvum is known to cause significant morbidity in immunocompromised individuals, including adults with cancer, the epidemiology of this pathogen in paediatric oncology patients is not known. Objective: We prospectively investigated the incidence of symptomatic C parvum infection in children receiving treatment for malignancy. Methodology: Over a 9 month period, all oncology inpatients with diarrhoea had stool analysts for C parvum oocysts. The incidence of cryptosporidiosis was also recorded in non-oncology patients who had a stool analysed for C parvum during the 6 years of the study period. Results: None of the 149 stool samples from 60 oncology patient..