Treatment of Urticaria caused by severe cryptosporidiosis in a 17-month-old child - a case report

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 461
• Main Authors: Azami, Mehdi, Amini Rarani, Saeid, Kiani, Fatemeh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 10.07.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Abdomen; Allergies; Allergy in children; Animals; Antigens; Autoimmune diseases; Bacterial infections; Blood; Care and treatment; Case Report; Case reports; Cattle; Causes of; Child; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Complications and side effects; Cryptosporidiosis; Cryptosporidiosis - diagnosis; Cryptosporidiosis - drug therapy; Cryptosporidium; Diagnosis; Diarrhea; Diarrhea - drug therapy; Female; Food allergies; Food allergy; Gastrointestinal symptoms; Health aspects; Health services; Hospitals; Humans; Immune system; Immunocompromised hosts; Infant; Infectious diseases; Iran; Livestock; Livestock farming; Livestock farms; Nitazoxanide; Oocysts; Parasites; Pathogens; Patients; Protozoa; Public health; Skin; Thyroid gland; Urticaria; Urticaria - drug therapy; Urticaria - etiology; Weight loss; Zoonoses; Iran; China; India; Cryptosporidium; Parasites; Nitazoxanide; Urticaria
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08446-y

Cryptosporidium is an intracellular protozoan that causes gastrointestinal symptoms in humans and animals. In immunocompromised patients and children under 5 years of age, the infection is severe and can be life-threatening due to severe diarrhea. We report a case of urticaria associated with Cryptosporidium in a 17-month-old female Iranian child. The patient had moderate diarrhea (> 3 loose, watery stools but not more than 10 diarrhea stools in a day), weight loss, and acute urticarial (rash clears completely within 6 weeks). Since the child's father worked in livestock farming, the parasite may have been transferred from the cow or calve to the house and the child. Several Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected in the modified acid-fast staining of the child's stool sample. The patient was successfully treated with nitazoxanide (100 mg twice daily) and became negative for parasites three days after treatment and one week after discharge from the hospital. The child was observed to produce < 3 loose stools in the previous 24 h after 1-week post-treatment and after 6 months of follow-up. A number of parasites are associated with urticaria, but to our knowledge, there is no information on Cryptosporidium-induced urticaria. Therefore, our result may be evidence for the role of this parasite in the development of urticaria if other causes such as food allergies, autoimmune diseases and etc. don't role in urticaria.