Cryptosporidium Infection of Children in Some Rural Areas of China

Objective To understand the status of cryptosporidium infection of children in some rural areas of our country.

Methods A cross-sectional investigation was carried out, including questionnaire survey and the detection of cryptosporidium oocyst in stool samples.

Results The total cryptosporidium infection rate of 5458 rural children was 2.58%. The cryptosporidium infection rate of children in primary school and kindergarten was 2.83% and 2.26%, respectively. The difference of cryptosporidium infection rate among Hubei province (4.00%), Guangdong province (2.40%) and Jiangsu province (1.09%) was statistically significant (χ²=32.38, P < 0.01). The difference of cryptosporidium infection rate between the children with raising livestock in the house (3.79%) and without raising livestock in the house (1.27%) in recent 1 year was statistically significant (χ²=34.33, P < 0.01).

Conclusions The incidence of cryptosporidium infection in children in these investigated areas should not be ignored. The location of area, hygienic status of drinking water, raising livestock in the house and personal health habits appeared to be factors associated with the infection rate of cryptosporidium.