Intestinal parasitic infections among expatriate workers in various occupations in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Intestinal parasitic infections are prevalent throughout many countries. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasite carriers among 21,347 expatriate workers, including food handlers and housemaids attending the public health center laboratory in Sharjah, UAE. Stool sample collection was performed throughout the period between January and December 2013. All samples were examined microscopically. Demographic data were also obtained and analyzed. Intestinal parasites were found in 3.3% (708/21,347) of the studied samples (single and multiple infections). Among positive samples, six hundred and eighty-three samples (96.5%) were positive for a single parasite: Giardia lamblia (257; 36.3%) and Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar (220; 31.1%), respectively, whereas mono-infections with helminths accounted for 206 (29.1%) of the samples. Infection rates with single worms were: Ascaris lumbricoides (84; 11.9%), Hookworm (34; 4.8%), Trichuris trichiura (33; 4.7%), Taenia spp. (27; 3.81%), Strongyloides stercoralis (13; 1.8%), Hymenolepis nana (13; 1.8%), and Enterobius vermicularis (2; 0.28%), respectively. Infections were significantly associated with gender (x 2 = 14.18; p = 0.002) with males as the most commonly infected with both groups of intestinal parasites (protozoa and helminths). A strong statistical association was noted correlating the parasite occurrence with certain nationalities (x 2= 49.5, p <0.001). Furthermore, the study has also found a strong statistical correlation between parasite occurrence and occupation (x 2= 15.60; p = 0.029). Multiple infections were not common (3.5% of the positive samples), although one individual (0.14%) had four helminth species, concurrently. These findings emphasized that food handlers with different pathogenic parasitic organisms may pose a significant health risk to the public.

Migrant Workers and Physical Health: an Umbrella Review

“…The authors found intestinal parasitic infections in 3.3% of the sample and, among these, 96% were positive for a single parasite, such as Giardia (36%) and Entamoeba histolytica (31%). Infections were positively correlated with gender (male workers) and with the occupational category (mostly workers in the food and agriculture industries) [19]. Percentages of higher intestinal infections among migrant workers were also found in the study of Taha and colleagues, with higher infections among farmers (20.6%) followed by food handlers (18.8%), shepherds (17.8%), drivers (13.4%) and domestic (13.3%).…”

Socio-demographic influences on the prevalence of enteric helminth and protozoan infections in newly arrived migrant workers in Qatar

“…However, fitting univariate models does not allow the influence of confounding factors and their interactions to be identified, so in the second phase of our analysis we fitted all the significant effects from phase 1 into multifactorial models and combined these with age class and region of origin, which had been shown in our earlier paper to have had an influence on parasitic infections in these same individuals (14).This showed that many of the factors identified by univariate analysis are likely to have arisen through confounding interactions between fitted factors. The minimum sufficient models thus generated showed that the prevalence of combined helminth infections was influenced only by An earlier study conducted in Sharjah investigated intestinal protozoan infection rates among both expatriates and locals, and the infection rate was reported as 7.7% (17). The prevelance of protozoan infection in our study was higher at 11.7%.…”

Prevalence of, and Factors Associated with Intestinal Parasites in Multinational Expatriate Workers in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates: An Occupational Cross-Sectional Study

“…The prevalence of the tested IPs was higher among workers with an educational attainment of grade 5 or below, from Asian countries, were living in rural settings in their home country, currently living in labour accommodation, sharing the same bedroom with ≥ 6 other workers, or sharing the same toilet with > 5 other people. The microscopically observed overall prevalence (17.4%) of at least one of the identified IPs in the surveyed expatriate workers is 5.3-times higher than that observed in expatriate workers in Sharjah Emirate (UAE) in 2008 [40] and 2013 [36]. This prevalence is slightly higher than that reported in expatriates working in Saudi Arabia (14.9%) in 2013 [41].…”

“…In 1982, the Abu Dhabi Public Health Preventative Medicine Laboratory found that 34% of all expatriate food handlers working in the country had helminths and protozoan infections [35]. A retrospective analysis of stool samples collected from a convenient sample of healthy expatriate workers for routine residency visa health screening between January and December 2013 reported that 3.3% of 21,347 tested expatriate workers of different occupations were positive for IPs in the emirate of Sharjah (UAE); however, the stool samples were only analyzed microscopically without molecular identification [36].…”