the prevalence of cryptosporidium spp. in children, taiz district, yemen

background : this is the first work done on cryptosporidiosis among the children in taiz, yemen. methods : a number of 712 samples were collected from children of different ages (ranging from 1 month to 12 years) from dec 2006 to aug 2007. the collected samples were examined by sheather's sugar floatation and modified ziehl- neelsen stain as well as elisa methods. the test results were statistically analyzed by spss software. results : the overall positive percentage was 43.7%. the higher incidence (36.2 %) was oc­curred in males while the lowest incidence (32.7 %) was observed in females (r= 0.876; p = 0.001). the correlation between infected cases and the type of drinking water was r =0.121. among the cases examined by elisa (92 cases), 26.1 % were infected. the correlation be­tween seropositivity and gender was r= 0.652 (p=0.031). conclusion : cryptosporidium spp. is a significant pathogen among children at taiz. fresh water supplies, education, eating habits and domestic animals are considered the main sources for transmission of cryptosporidiosis.