Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:38:22.130Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Seroepidemiology of cryptosporidiosis in children in Papua New Guinea and Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

V. J. Groves
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology & Infectious Disease, Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia
D. Lehmann
Affiliation:
Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
G. L. Gilbert
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology & Infectious Disease, Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Enzyme immunoassays (EIA) were used to measure serum antibodies to Cryptosporidium in four immunocompetent adults with recent proven cryptosporidial infection, 379 healthy children and 73 adult volunteers in Melbourne, Australia, and 205 children in Papua New Guinea (PNG) (47 healthy children; 158 with pneumonia). Antibodies peaked 3–6 weeks after infection and fell to baseline within a few months. A high level (5000 EIA units/ml) or a significant change between paired sera, of IgG or IgM, were taken as evidence of recent infection and found in 24% of PNG children and in 8% of children and 5% of adults in Melbourne. Among PNG children with pneumonia who had high cryptosporidial antibody levels, those with measles (6/8) were significantly more likely (P = 0·002) to have diarrhoea than the remainder (4/28). Symptomatic cryptosporidiosis may be associated with transient immune suppression due to viral infection. This study indicates that serological surveys can contribute to an understanding of the epidemiology of cryptosporidosis.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

References

1.Current WL, Garcia LS. Cryptosporidiosis. Clin Microbiol Rev 1991; 4: 325–58.Google Scholar
2.Tzipori, S, Smith, M, Birch, C, Barnes, G, Bishop, R. Cryptosporidiosis in hospital patients with gastroenteritis. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1983; 32: 931–4.Google ScholarPubMed
3.Waldman, E, Tzipori, S, Forayth, J. Separation of Cryptosporidium species oocysts from feces by using a Percoll discontinuous density gradient. J Clin Microbiol 1980; 23: 199200.Google Scholar
4.Bj, Luft,Payne, D, Woodmansee, D, Cw, Kim. Characterization of the Cryptosporidium antigens from sporulated oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvtim. Infect Immun 1987; 55: 2436–41.Google Scholar
5.Ef, Hartree. Determination of protein: a modification of the Lowry method that gives linear photometric response. Anal Biochem 1972; 48: 422–7.Google Scholar
6.Rf, Vogt, Dl, Phillips, Lo, Henderson,Whitfield, W, Fw, Spierto. Quantitative differences among various proteins as blocking agents for ELISA microtiter plates. J. Immunol. Methods 1987; 101: 4350.Google Scholar
7.Rf, Bishop, Cipriani, E, Js, Lund, Gl, Barnes, Cs, Hosking. Estimation of rotavirus immunoglobulin G antibodies in human serum samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: expression of results as units derived from a standard curve. J Clin Microbiol 1984; 19: 447–52.Google Scholar
8.Weisberg, S. Applied linear regression. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1980.Google Scholar
9.Ungar, B, Soave, R, Fayer, R, Nash, T. Enzyme immunoassay detection immunoglobulin M and G antibodies to Cryptosporidium in immunocompetent and immunocompromised persons. J Infect Dis 1986; 153: 570–8.Google Scholar
10.Dp, Casemore. The antibody response to Cryptosporidium: development of a serologicial test and its use in a study of immunologically normal persons. J Infect 1987; 14: 125–34.Google Scholar
11.De Mol, P, Mukashema, S, Bogaerts, J, Hemelhof, W, Jp, Butzler. Cryptosporidium related to measles diarrhoea in Rwanda. Lancet 1984; ii: 42–3.Google Scholar
12.En, Janofif, Ps, Mead, Mead, Jr et al. , Endemic Cryptosporidium and Giardia lamblia infections in a Thai orphanage. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1990; 43: 248–56.Google Scholar
13.Kl, Koch, DJ, Phillips, Rc, Aber, Wl, Current. Cryptosporidiosis in hospital personnel. Evidence for person to person transmission. Ann Intern Med 1985; 102: 593–6.Google Scholar
14.Biggs, B, Megna, R, Wickremesinghe, S, Dwyer, B. Human infection with Cryptosporidium spp.: results of a 24 month survey. Med J Aust 1987; 147: 175–7.Google ScholarPubMed
15.Fg, Crawford, Sh, Vermund. Human cryptosporidiosis. Crit Rev Microbiol 1988; 16: 113–59.Google Scholar
16.Pa, Addy, Aikins-Bekoe, P. Cryptosporidiosis in diarrhoeal children in Kumasi, Ghana. Lancet 1986; i: 735.Google Scholar
17.Blp, Ungar, Rh, Gilman, Cf, Lanata, Perez-Schael, I. Seroepidemiology of Cryptosporidium infection in two Latin American populations. J Infect Dis 1988; 157: 551–6.Google Scholar