Cryptosporidiosis among black children in hospital in South Africa.

Over a period of 3 months during the summer, 362 African children admitted to King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, were screened for the faecal excretion of Cryptosporidium oocysts. Of 259 children with diarrhoea, oocysts were detected in 31 (11.9%), while none was found in the faeces of 103 children without diarrhoea (controls). All those children excreting Cryptosporidium were under 2 years of age, giving a prevalence of 15% for this group. Other potential enteric pathogens were detected in the faeces of 12 (38.7%) of these children. The case fatality rate for patients with Cryptosporidium was 22.6%, which may reflect the selection of patients in a study concentrating on hospital inpatients. Cryptosporidium was the second most common organism detected in diarrhoeal faeces, and the only one detected in 9.2% of diarrhoeal children aged less than two years. These findings indicate that Cryptosporidium should be regarded as a potential pathogen in children admitted to this hospital with severe diarrhoea. Such association of Cryptosporidium with diarrhoea in children accords with recent studies in other parts of the world.