Asymptomatic carriage of intestinal protists is common in children in Lusaka Province, Zambia.

Background: PCR-based screenings on the presence of diarrhoea-causing intestinal protist species are limited in Zambia, resulting in inaccurate current prevalence and epidemiological data. Sensitive PCR-based methods are particularly well suited for detecting subclinical infections in apparently healthy carriers.

Methodology: In this prospective cross-sectional study, we investigated the occurrence of the most common intestinal protists in an apparently healthy paediatric population (5-18 years) in Lusaka Province, Zambia.

Molecular Detection and Characterization of Rickettsia asembonensis in Human Blood, Zambia.

Rickettsia asembonensis is a flea-related Rickettsia with unknown pathogenicity to humans. We detected R. asembonensis DNA in 2 of 1,153 human blood samples in Zambia.

Molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. from patients with diarrhoea in Lusaka, Zambia.

Cryptosporidium is a major etiological agent of diarrhoeal diseases among children and immune-compromised individuals in sub-Saharan African countries. We conducted a study to determine the prevalence and genetic characteristics of Cryptosporidium spp. in stool samples from patients with diarrhoea who presented at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia.