[Epidemiological studies on human cryptosporidiosis in rural and urban areas of Jiangsu].

A survey of cryptosporidiosis in outpatients and inhabitants in Xuzhou city and 6 rural areas of Jiangsu Province was carried out from 1989 to 1991. Cryptosporidium oocysts (CSO) were found in 97 (1.6%) of 6,221 individuals as a whole, and were detected in 39 (3.3%) of 1,172 outpatients among the examinees. 39 cases were from 31 towns and villages of 8 counties near Xuzhou city. Among the 136 cases, 83 were males and 53 females, of them 89 (65.4%) were infants and young children. The incidence was evidently higher in the group of children under 4 than in that aged 4 to 15 (P < 0.01). Diarrhea, intermittent or persistent, was the main symptom of cryptosporidiosis, being present in 94 (69.1%) of the 136 positive cases, while the other 42 were asymptomatic carriers. The results of routine blood examination and immunoassay performed in a part of the infected children indicated that more than half of them had anemia and lessened cellular immunity. Stool examination of the domestic animals of the affected households showed that a pig and a dog were CSO positive.