[Chronic diarrhea due to Cryptosporidium in an immunocompetent subject]

The protozoan Cryptosporidium has been described in many cases of acute self-limiting diarrhoea in immunocompetent patients and of more protracted or life threatening diarrhoea in immunocompromised patients. We found the parasite in the stools of a child with chronic diarrhoea and without deficiency of immunity. The test for common causes of chronic diarrhoea were normal. The end of the clinical manifestation and the normalization of the test to identify Cryptosporidium in the stools, after a specific therapy, prove the presence of a casual relation between the patient's symptomatology and the finding of the protozoan in his stools.