Cryptosporidium

The main ideas :

• • -Cryptosporidium and its lifecycle. 

  • -Types of oocysts produced. 

  • -Cryptosporidiosis and symptomes. 

  • -Clinical pathology. 

  • -Clinical diagnosis.

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  • Defenitive host : man ( especially children). 

• • • Reservare host : domastic animals. 

-It lives inside the cells(intracellular) of the small intestine, just as it lives in the mucous cells. 

-As it is named so because it hides its spores.

-It affects children the most (Opportunistic) when they are exposed to cancer therapy . 

-Affects AIDS patients and those who are exposed to cancer therapy. 

-These parasites are present in many animals(zoonotic).

Cryptosporidium Life cycle :

In details :

 1)The injury is through eating the person:

• • Vegetables on top of oocyst. 

  • Water with eggs in it (most common).

  • From flies and cockroaches.

  • 2)Then it travels to the small intestine and produces sporozite that gently penetrate the intramembrane with the mucous cells.

     

    3)Then it multiplies and develops into merozoite in cyst called meront.

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  • 4) The meront bursts and excreted the merozoite , multiplied, and the cyst bursts, and so the loop continues, this repetitive process is called merogony. 

    
    
    

    5)Or it reproduces into gametes, where the female gamet is large and is called the macrogamot, and the male gamet is small and called the microgamot, where a zygote that contains four sporozoites is formed in order to produce the oocyst for this parasite, and this process is called gametogony.

  • 

  • Types of oocysts produced :

    
    

    1) Thin-walled oocysts : It bursts into the small intestine and produces sporozoite and causes an internal outoinfection, which is the most dangerous because it is difficult to control.

    
    2) Thick-walled oocysts : Where it is resistant to environmental conditions and transmits the infection when it exits the human body to another person or to himself again and is called an external outoinfection(heteroinfection) , as this type appears in the stool.

  • Cryptosporidiosis :

    
    - Is a diarrheal disease caused by microscopic parasites, Cryptosporidium, that can live in the intestine of humans and animals and is passed in the stool of an infected person or animal.
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  •  The symptoms appearing on the patient :

    
    

    1)Diarrhea for two weeks(self-limited) , but for children, diarrhea will continue, and this will result in dehydration and also watery diarrhea.

    
    

    2)May be in a headache and fever. 

    
    3)As for AIDS patients, they will have sever watery diarrhea.

  • Clinical pathology :

    
    
    

    • Infalmmation in mucous cells. 

    
    

    • Villous atrophy : The villus changes shape.

     

    Crypt hyperplasia : The spaces between the villus are filled.
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  • Clinical diagnosis :

    1)We take a stool sample and stain it with modified ziehl-neelsen dye. This dye is intended for intestine sporozoa. 

    2)Through intestine biopsy. 

    3)Or through immuno florecent. 

    Note :The size of this parasite is very small(4-6)micron , its number is small, and it appears in pink and the background is blue.