Respiratory cryptosporidiosis: Case series and review of the literature

Five case of intestinal cryptosporidiosis with pulmonary involvement in patients with AIDS are reported, The diagnosis was based on the recognition of acid-fast oocysts in sputum or aspirated bronchial material and stool specimens. Coughing and excess secretions were present in all cases; Four patients had other associated pulmonary pathogens: two Mycobacterium tuberculosis, one Mycobacterium fortuitum and one Cytomegalovirus + Pneumocystis carinii; all of them had a previous (three cases) or simultaneous (one case) diagnosis of intestinal cryptosporidiosis, presenting,vith diarrhoea and vomiting, In the fifth patient Cryptosporidium was the only pulmonary pathogen found in a bronchial aspirate, and the onset of diarrhoea was 1 month after respiratory detection, Fifty-seven cases of respiratory cryptosporidiosis have been reported since 1980, In 17 of them, no other pathogen was found. Diarrhoea was present in 77 % of the patients, cough in 77 %, dyspnea in 58 %, expectoration in 54 %, fever in 45 %, thoracic pain in 33 %.