Background: Cryptosporidium is a parasite that infects man especially immunocompromised patients. Liver cirrhosis reduced cellular immunity. Methods were used for diagnosis of cryptosporidium including coproscopy and copro-nested (copro-n) PCR assay.
Objective: Detection of the molecular and genotypic prevalence of Cryptosporidium species in fecal samples of Egyptian patients with cirrhotic liver and exploring the possibility of association between Cryptosporidium and grades of liver cirrhosis, besides assessment their histopathological changes.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 60 patients with chronic liver disease (HCV and HBV positive) classified according to Child-Pugh score and 60 subjects free of any known liver diseases as a control group. Stool samples were taken for coproscopy using acid-fast (AF) stain and copro-nPCR assay. We designed animal model for studying the effect of Cryptosporidium infection by assessing histopathological changes in intestine of immunosuppressed and non-immunosuppressed rats.
Results: Low prevalence of cryptosporidial infection in patients with liver cirrhosis (3.3%) by using copro-nPCR corresponding to 0% by coproscopy. The prevalence among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and grade C liver cirrhosis were (6.9%) and (5.3%) respectively. The predominant genotype was Cryptosporidium parvum. Regarding animal study, there were no significant intestinal histological changes
Conclusion: Copro-nPCR is more powerful than coproscopy for detection of cryptosporidial infection. The prevailing genotype was C.parvum. There is no strong association between liver cirrhosis and cryptosporium infection but chance for infection may increase with the development of HCC or when patients become decompensated. Demographic, environmental, and clinical data are not associated with cryptosporidial infection.