Association of Cryptosporidium spp. Infection with Colorectal Cancer in the Patients Attended Al-Amal Center for Tumors Treatment in Taiz City, Yemen
Keywords:
Cryptosporidiosis, Colorectal cancer patients, Modified Ziehl-Neelsen, Taiz, YemenAbstract
Background: Cryptosporidiosis is a disease caused by Cryptosporidium species, the intracellular obligate protozoan parasites with worldwide distribution.
Aim: The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. and some associated risk factors with infection in colorectal cancer patients and healthy controls.
Method: This study included 200 participants (130 colorectal cancer patients and 70 healthy individuals) attending Al-Amal Hospital for cancer patients in Taiz city-Yemen during the period from May 2022 to August 2023. Fresh stool specimens were collected and examined by permanent staining of faecal smears using Modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining technique for detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts. Demographic and possible risk factors such as age, gender, residence and source of drinking water were investigated in all the studied participants using a structured questionnaire.
Results: The prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. among colorectal cancer patients was 54.62%. This prevalence was significantly higher compared to 10% of that prevalence among healthy individuals (P < 0.001). Also, the highest rate of infection was found in the age group of 18-38 years at 66.67% among colorectal cancer patients and 13.64% among healthy controls. Accordingly, the difference in the rates of Cryptosporidium spp. infection between the patients with colorectal cancer and control group is statistically high significant (P = 0.005). The rate of Cryptosporidium spp. infection was higher among male patients with colorectal cancer (58.21%) and among females in control group (14.71%). Both colorectal cancer and healthy participants coming from rural areas had a higher rates of infection with Cryptosporidium spp. (65.15%, 18.52%) respectively. In addition, the highest positive rate of Cryptosporidium spp. was observed in colorectal cancer patients drinking wells water (73.33%), while it was showed in healthy controls drinking stream water to be 42.86%. Finally, the colon cancer patients had slightly higher rate of Cryptosporidium spp. infection (56.34%) than patients with rectal cancer (52.54%).
Conclusion: The results of this study can be concluded that Cryptosporidium spp. infections occurred significantly higher in patients with colorectal cancer compared to controls.
