Cryptosporidiosis in HIV infection.

Preserved faecal specimens (10 per cent Buffer formalin), from 150 HIV infected persons having symptomatic diarrhoea and 50 non-diarrhoeal apparently healthy people aged between 15-30 years were examined to detect the presence of cryptosporidium infection. 70 diarrhoeal patients (46.6 per cent) were found to excrete this pathogen. None of the non-diarrhoeals was found to excrete this parasite. It is evident from the present study that cryptosporidium is highly prevalent amongst the HIV infected persons with symptomatic diarrhoea. All the HIV infected persons were known cases of injected drug users.