Cryptosporidium parvum infection among Egyptian school children.

The present study determined cryptosporidiosis among 120 randomly chosen school children aged 4-16 years. Medical sheets were filled out on each child. The fresh stool samples were examined by using Sheather's sugar flotation stained with modified Ziehl Neelsen stain. Blood samples were examined by ELISA and IFA techniques. The results revealed that, the prevalence rate was 13.51% with a peak among the age group (5-10) and. significant relation between males and females. There was a significant relation between infection and low socio-economic level in rural area. Also, a significant relation was obtained between the infection and the presence of animal contact. Watery and loose diarrhea was more significant among infected children. Positive stool samples were among 37 (30.8 %), while ELISA and IFA detected 30 (25%) and 33 (27.5%) respectively. The validity test of ELISA declared sensitivity and specificity with 93.3% and 90% while IFA declared 90.9% and 91.1% respectively.