[Classic strategies for diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis in patients with AIDS and chronic diarrhea]. / Estrategias clásicas para el diagnóstico de criptosporidiosis en pacientes con SIDA y diarrea crónica.

Cryptosporidium sp., a protozoa organism, has been increasingly recognized in association with severe enteritis in patients with the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. The studied subjects included 84 adult patients with AIDS and chronic diarrhea. We describe 14 patients with intestinal infection caused by Cryptosporidium sp. The mean CD4 count in these patients was < or = 300 cells/mm3 (7 out of 14). Examination of duodenal aspirates and feces included dimethylsulfoxide, auramine and acid-fast preparation of concentrated samples. We carried out videoesophagogastroduodenoscopy (VEDA) to visually inspect the mucosa and obtain biopsy specimens. VEDA revealed granular duodenum in ten patients and jasper duodenum in one of them. Duodenal biopsy specimens were stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Giemsa and Azure II. Histologic changes included atrophy (3/14), duodenitis (2/14) or both (3/14). Transmission electron microscopy was used for the identification of developmental stages of Cryptosporidium sp.