       Document 0494
 DOCN  M9460494
 TI    [Prevalence of Enterocytozoon bieneusi spores in the stool of AIDS
       patients and African children not infected by HIV]
 DT    9404
 AU    Bretagne S; Foulet F; Alkassoum W; Fleury-Feith J; Develoux M;
       Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Hopital Henri-Mondor, Creteil,; France.
 SO    Bull Soc Pathol Exot. 1993;86(5):351-7. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/94169660
 AB    Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a newly described microsporidia in humans
       thought to be responsible for chronic diarrhoea in acquired
       immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients. The epidemiology of this
       parasite is still unknown; it could be a strictly opportunistic agent or
       a human enteropathogen. E. bieneusi spores were searched for in stool
       smears of two populations using a modified chromotrope 2R staining. The
       first population consisted of 60 patients infected by the human
       immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the second of 990 children aged from
       one month to six years consulting two primary care centers in Niamey,
       Niger. E. bieneusi spores were found in 4 out of the 60 HIV-positive
       patients (7%). These 4 patients belonged to a subgroup of 35 patients
       with < 50 CD4 cells/microliters. Out of 990 children, 8 shed E. bieneusi
       spores in their stools; the presence of spores was not associated with a
       particular clinical phenotype (diarrhoea, fever, dehydration, vomiting).
       Although HIV status could not be evaluated, the HIV prevalence rate
       among women consulting the same care centers was low (0.5%) and it is
       therefore unlikely that all eight children were HIV-infected. The
       results show for the first time that E. bieneusi can infest HIV-negative
       subjects. Microsporidiosis is frequent in AIDS patients with low CD4
       cell counts. Further work is needed to define the prevalence and the
       possible pathogenic effect of E. bieneusi in immunocompetent subjects.
 DE    Adult  Aged  Animal  AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/*PARASITOLOGY
       Child  Child, Preschool  Diarrhea/PARASITOLOGY  English Abstract
       Feces/*PARASITOLOGY  Female  Human  HIV Seronegativity  Infant  Male
       Microspora Infections/*PARASITOLOGY  Microsporida/*ISOLATION & PURIF
       Middle Age  Niger  Spores/ISOLATION & PURIF  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

