Epidemiological Study of Intestinal Parasites in Referred Individuals to the Medical Centers’ Laboratories of Haji-Abad City, Hormozgan Province, Iran, 2015

• Main Authors: Somayeh Mehran, Ali Haghighi, Hooshang Khazan, Eznoallah Azargashb, Hamidreza Ghasemian Moghadam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences 2017-06-01
• Series: Novelty in Biomedicine
• Subjects: Intestinal parasites, Prevalence, Haji-abad, Iran
• Online Access: http://journals.sbmu.ac.ir/nbm/article/view/15571
• ISSN: 2345-3346; 2345-3907

<h2>Background:intestinal parasitic infection is one of the most prevalent health problems in developing countries. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection and its correlation with socio-demographic parameters in Haji-abad, 2015.</h2><p><strong>M</strong><strong>aterialsandMethods:</strong>This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 635 samples. After completing questionnaires, stool samples were assessed macroscopically, and microscopically using direct slide smear with saline and lugol, formalin-ether concentration, Ziehl-Neelsen staining to track <em>Cryptosporidium </em>species and Trichrome staining for the samples suspected to amoeba and other indeterminate cases. PCR using specific primers was conducted for <em>Entamoebahistolytica/E. dispar </em>suspected samples. The results were analyzed using SPSS_ver.16software.</p><p><strong>R</strong><strong>es</strong><strong>ults:</strong>Of total 635 samples, 198 cases (31.2%) were infected by at least one intestinal parasite. The most common parasites in this area were: <em>Blastocystis sp.</em> (105, 16.5%), <em>Endolimax nana</em> (43, 6.8%), <em>Entamoeba coli</em> (32, 5.0%), <em>Giardia lamblia</em> (31, 4.9%), and <em>Iodamoeba butschlii</em> (11, 1.7%). <em>Enterobius vermicularis</em> (1, 0.2%) was the only detected helminthic infection. Regarding socio-demographic variables, age, residence, sampling month, and job showed a significant correlation with IPIs (p-value=0.031, 0.019, 0.014, 0.012; respectively). None of nine microscopically suspected <em>E. histolytica/E. dispar</em> cases were confirmed by molecular investigations (PCR method) and were considered as <em>E. coli</em>.</p><p><strong>C</strong><strong>onclusion:</strong>In agreement with previous studies, helminthes infections show a dramatic decline compare to protozoa in this study. The relatively high incidence of intestinal protozoan infections in studies performed in Iran supports strategies for pre­venting the transmission and expansion of these parasites as a priority.</p>