[Short communication: investigation of intestinal coccidia in patients with diarrhea].

The intestinal protozoa have been increasingly identified in immunocompromised patients. In this study, stool samples of 554 patients [288 male, 266 female; 11 (2%) of them were immunocompromised] with diarrhea were examined between June 2004 and June 2005 in the Parasitology Laboratory of Dokuz Eylul University Hospital, Izmir, Turkey, in order to investigate the prevalence of intestinal coccidia. After formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation procedure, the samples were examined by both native lugol and Kinyoun acid-fast staining methods for the detection of Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora and Isospora spp. As a result, Isospora belli oocysts were detected in the stool samples of two patients (0.4%) of which one was HIV positive and the other had experienced liver transplantation. Seven (1.3%) and two (0.4%) of the immunocompetent subjects were found positive for Cryptosporidium spp. and for Cyclospora cayetanensis, respectively. In conclusion, Isospora is one of the important protozoa which should be taken into consideration by clinicians in the immunocompromised patients with diarrhea.