AN IMPORTED JAPANESE CASE OF CYCLOSPORIASIS

A stool examination revealed oocysts of Cyclospora cayetanensis in a 54-year-old Japanese man who had recently returned from the Phillipines. He suffered from watery diarrhea for about two weeks prior to visiting our hospital. An oral dose of 1, 600 mg sulfamethoxazole and 320 mg trimethoprim was administered daily for nine days, and his diarrhea had disappeared by the fifth day of medication. Most Japanese physicians and laboratory technicians are unfamiliar with this protozoan disease, and need to be reminded of its existence when they encounter patients with diarrhea who have recently returned from a cyclosporiasis endemic area.