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Frontiers of Medicine >> 2018, Volume 12, Issue 1 doi: 10.1007/s11684-018-0614-3

infections among diarrheal outpatients in Shanghai: a retrospective case study

1. National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, China; WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai 200025, China
2. Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200233, China

Accepted: 2018-01-26 Available online: 2018-02-06

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Abstract

Cyclospora cayetanensis is a foodborne and waterborne pathogen that causes endemic and epidemic human diarrhea worldwide. A few epidemiological studies regarding C. cayetanensis infections in China have been conducted. During 2013, a total of 291 stool specimens were collected from patients with diarrhea at a hospital in urban Shanghai. C. cayetanensis was not detected in any of the stool specimens by traditional microscopy, whereas five stool specimens (1.72%, 5/291) were positive by PCR. These positive cases confirmed by molecular technology were all in the adult group (mean age 27.8 years; 2.94%, 5/170) with watery diarrhea. Marked infection occurred in the rainy season of May and July. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of the partial 18S rRNA genes of C. cayetanensis isolated showed intra-species diversity of this parasite. This study showed, for the first time, that C. cayetanensis is a pathogen in outpatients with diarrhea in Shanghai, albeit at a low level. However, the transmission dynamics of this parasite in these patients remain uncertain.

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