Cryptosporidiosis is one of the major causes of
diarrhea in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients. It is self-limited in immunocompetent individuals. However, in the immunocompromised it can cause life-threatening
diarrhea and results in chronic malabsorption of fluids,
vitamins and
electrolytes resulting in wasting. Our study is concerned with assessing and comparing the efficacy of
nitazoxanide (
NTZ) alone and
NTZ loaded
chitosan nanoparticles (
NTZ loaded CS NPs) in the treatment of experimental
cryptosporidiosis using parasitological and histopathological parameters. One hundred mice were divided into 5 groups (20 mice each). Each group was divided into 2 subgroups according to the immune status [a-immunocompetent, b-immunosuppressed]. group 1: control (healthy), group 2: control infected by Cryptosporidium oocysts, group 3: infected treated by
NTZ, group 4: infected then treated by
NTZ loaded CS NPs and group 5: infected then treated by
chitosan nanoparticles (CS NPs) alone. Treatment of Cryptosporidium infected mice with
NTZ loaded on CS NPs resulted in the highest significant reduction in oocysts shedding in both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed groups followed by treatment with
NTZ form then by treatment with CS NPs alone. The treatment with
NTZ loaded CS NPs displayed a remarkable improvement of the histopathological changes of the intestine, liver and lung while
NTZ treated group showed some improvement. Treatment with
NTZ loaded CS NPs in murine
cryptosporidiosis gave the best results as it caused marked reduction in fecal oocysts counts and improvement of histopathological changes in immunocompetent and immunosuppressed groups.