Clinical features

clinical features

Ingestion of oocysts, which contain the infective stage of parasites life cycle, results in the disease

• symptoms are usually present two to ten days (average seven days) after becoming infected with the parasite
  
  
• patients presents with gastroenteritis like syndrome
  • small bowel is affected mainly with malabsorption and some elements of inflammation
  • profuse, usually non-bloody, and watery diarrhoea is usually associated with
    • abdominal cramps (in 96% of patients who present for consultation)
    • vomiting (65%)
    • mild fever (59%)
    • loss of appetite
    • weight loss
  • mean duration of symptoms is around 12.7 days, but in some patients may persist up to a month
  • persistent infection may result in relapse of symptoms in over a third of cases
    
    
• patients who are immunocompromised commonly experience chronic or intractable disease
  • entire gastrointestinal tract can be affected, including the pancreatic duct and gall bladder (1).

Several long term effects of Cryptosporidium infection have been reported:

• in C. hominis - joint pain, eye pain, headaches, and fatigue during the two months after infection
• seronegative reactive arthritis - both in adults and in children (including one report of Reiter's syndrome)
• relapse of inflammatory bowel disease (1).

Reference:

• (1) Davies AP, Chalmers RM. Cryptosporidiosis. BMJ. 2009;339:b4168.
• (2) Siberry GK et al. Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections in HIV-exposed and HIV-infected children: recommendations from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2013;32 Suppl 2:i-KK4