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Five studies were carried out in children younger than 4 years old attending regularly day care centres in order to determine the intestinal parasitization by Cryptosporidium and Giardia. The percent of children parasitized by Cryptosporidium was 10% (17 children out of 170 studied). Cryptosporidiosis was more frequent in winter than in other seasons (difference statistically significant). Giardia intestinalis, which was the most frequent parasite, was identified in 25.3% (43 children out of 170 studied). Giardiasis was more frequent in autumn and in the low SEL (difference statistically significant in both cases). The frequency of giardiasis increased from 8% in children studied during 1-2 seasons, to 34% in children studied for 3-5 seasons (difference statistically significant), whereas the frequency of cryptosporidiosis did not show variation with increased number of specimens studied per child. The 35% of children parasitized by Cryptosporidium sp. showed gastrointestinal symptoms but only 14% of children with Giardia intestinalis.

A study was carried out on the presence of oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp. in water for human consumption in the Province of Salamanca, Spain, using four different staining techniques: Ziehl-Neelsen, auramine, indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies (Meridian, USA) and direct immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies (Pasteur, France). The presence of oocysts was detected in the water used for the washing of sand filters in the four water purifying plants and in the drinking water of two of the six geographical areas studied. The Ziehl-Neelsen and auramine staining techniques were found to have excellent diagnostic correlation. Immunofluorescence stainings with monoclonal antibodies proved to be less sensitive.

The usefulness of five dying techniques to detect oocysts of Cryptosporidium spp in stools is evaluated in a healthy children preschool population, taking from a smear of the sediment obtained in the formalin-ether concentration technique (Ritchie's test). 10 positive stool samples were detected of a total of 115 samples (8.7%). Dying with Lugol the sediment of Ritchie's test only detected 40% of positive samples. Modified Ziehl-Neelsen dye, auramine dye and indirect immunofluorescence dye with monoclonal antibodies, yielded an excellent diagnostic correlation (each of them detected 90% of the positive samples). Indirect immunofluorescence dye with specific human antibodies detected one case more of parasites than the rest of dyes, is not expensive and easy to perform.