Background: Liver cirrhotic patients usually suffer from compromised immunity which makes them more susceptible to pathogens including Cryptosporidium.
Objective: To detect the genotypic prevalence of Cryptosporidium species among cirrhotic liver Egyptians. Also, to explore the association between the parasite and grades of liver cirrhosis and related patient's data.
Material and Methods: From September 2015 to January 2017, a cross-sectional study was carried out on a study group of 60 cirrhotic patients (HCV and HBV positive) attending the outpatient clinics of Hepatology, Gastroenterology, and Infectious diseases Department, Al-Azhar University Hospitals, Cairo, as well as a control matched group of 60 subjects. Collected stool samples were examined coproscopically and using the copro-nPCR assay.
Results: Only Cryptosporidium parvum was molecularly detected in 3.3% of liver cirrhotic patients among patients with HCV, suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and grade C liver cirrhosis. None of them were microscopically detected. The mean age of liver cirrhotic patients and controls was 46 years. None of the studied demographic, environmental or clinical data showed statistically significant association with molecular detection of Cryptosporidium (P-value >0.05). Cryptosporidium was not detected in any of the control groups.
Conclusion: There is a low prevalence of Cryptosporidium parvum among patients with progressive liver cirrhosis (suffering from HCC and with grade C cirrhosis). Copro-nPCR is more sensitive than coproscopy for the detection of Cryptosporidium infection. Our findings indicate the need for molecular searching of Cryptosporidium in this population to avoid delay in its final diagnosis.
Keywords: Cryptosporidium; Liver cirrhosis; Copro-nPCR; Prevalence.