Table 1.
Occurrence of symptoms during and 4 months following cryptosporidiosis as compared to 4 months before illness onset
| Symptoms | Before illness (baseline) | During illness | After illness | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | aOR | p | 95% CI | n (%) | aOR | p | 95% CI | |
| Dizziness | 23 (7.5) | 80 (26) | 5.13 | 0.000 | 3.22–8.18 | 45 (14.6) | 2.25 | 0.000 | 1.46–3.47 |
| Headache | 44 (14.3) | 106 (34.4) | 3.49 | 0.000 | 2.45–4.98 | 78 (25.3) | 2.15 | 0.000 | 1.57–2.93 |
| Fatigue | 105 (34.1) | 239 (77.6) | 7.22 | 0.000 | 5.13–10.16 | 156 (50.7) | 2.04 | 0.000 | 1.58–2.63 |
| Weight loss | 37 (12.0) | 196 (63.6) | 13.58 | 0.000 | 8.85–20.84 | 61 (19.8) | 1.82 | 0.003 | 1.23–2.70 |
| Diarrhoea | 101 (32.8) | 269 (87.3) | 15.71 | 0.000 | 10.30–23.96 | 129 (41.9) | *1.50 | 0.005 | 1.13–2.01 |
| Loss of appetite | 73 (23.7) | 248 (80.8) | 16.40 | 0.000 | 11.08–24.27 | 91 (29.6) | 1.38 | 0.055 | 0.99–1.92 |
| Abdominal pain | 97 (31.5) | 245 (79.6) | 9.69 | 0.000 | 6.71–13.99 | 118 (38.3) | *1.38 | 0.026 | 1.04–1.83 |
| Joint pain | 32 (10.4) | 63 (20.5) | 2.39 | 0.000 | 1.56–3.66 | 52 (16.9) | 1.84 | 0.001 | 1.27–2.67 |
| Eye pain | 11 (3.6) | 30 (9.8) | 3.13 | 0.001 | 1.59–6.17 | 19 (6.2) | 1.83 | 0.060 | 0.97–3.45 |
| Vomiting | 25 (8.1) | 100 (32.5) | 5.72 | 0.000 | 3.60–9.09 | 21 (6.8) | 0.83 | 0.517 | 0.46–1.47 |
Number of cryptosporidiosis cases (n) and percentage of the total (n = 308) number of cryptosporidiosis cases reporting each symptom. Odds ratios (aOR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) are adjusted for age, gender, Cryptosporidium species, study year and season
*No longer statistically significant when removing children under 5 years of age from the analysis: abdominal pain OR 1.32 (95% CI 0.98–1.79, p = 0.071), diarrhoea OR 1.30 (95% CI 0.94–1.80, p = 0.108)