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J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.00328-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Microsporidia Infection is Prevalent in Normal, Healthy People in Cameroon

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé-1, Yaoundé, Cameroon, and Tulane National Primate Research Center, Covington, Louisiana, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: Edna.Kaneshiro{at}uc.edu.

	Abstract

Most studies on opportunistic infections focus on those with weak immune systems such as HIV/AIDS patients and children. However, there is a lack of information on these infectious agents in normal, healthy people worldwide. In the present study, stool samples from both HIV patients and normal, healthy people were examined to begin filling this serious gap in understanding human microsporidiosis, particularly the enteric parasite, Enterocytozoon bieneusi. Specimens were obtained from 191 individuals living in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon in sub-Sahara Africa, including 28 HIV-positive patients who also had tuberculosis (TB). E. bieneusi prevalence was 35.7% among the HIV⁺ TB patients whereas it was only 24.0% among 25 HIV^- TB patients in the same hospital. Unexpectedly, the prevalence (67.5%) of microsporidiosis was found even higher among 126 immunocompetent individuals (normal, healthy people versus HIV⁺ TB and HIV^- TB patients, P 0.001). The immunocompetent group included people ranging from 2 to 70 years of age living in four different neighborhoods in Yaoundé. The highest prevalence (81.5%) was among teenagers and the highest mean infection score (+2.5) was among children. Additional studies of immunocompetent people in other parts of Cameroon, as well as in other countries, are needed to better understand microsporidiosis epidemiology. There is still much more to be learned about the natural history of microsporidia, the pathogenicity of different strains, and the role of enteric microsporidia as opportunistic infections in immunodeficient people.

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