Diagnosis of gastrointestinal parasites among hospitalized patients attending Al-Nasser Paediatric Hospital, Gaza, Palestine

Abstract

Aims The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the diagnosed gastrointestinal parasites among hospitalized children attending the Al-Nasser Paediatric Hospital. Method This was a cross-sectional study among hospitalized children attending the Al-Nasser Paediatric Hospital. The study included 522 children during the period May 2002 to May 2003. Data collection included two methods: medical laboratory results for the examination of stool specimens and a questionnaire. Wet mount using saline and Lugol's iodine and formal ether sedimentation techniques were employed in the present study.Results Evidence for infection with the gastrointestinal parasites was found in 176 (33.7%) of the children. The intestinal parasites were most prevalent in females (38.8%). The most highly prevalent parasite was found to be Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (26.4%) and the monthly high prevalence of intestinal parasites was in February (54.5%). The prevalence of intestinal parasites increased significantly with increasing age for both Giardia lamblia and E. histolytica/dispar. Conclusions The study showed a high prevalence of E. histolytica/dispar infection among hospitalized children. Hygiene and health measures should be reviewed in the hospital where nosocomial infection cannot be excluded. The diagnostic techniques for stool specimens should be reviewed and improved. Physicians in hospitals and private clinics should be aware of intestinal parasitic diseases when requesting stool specimens and prescribing drugs.

Intestinal parasitism in pediatric oncology children receiving chemotherapy: unexpected low prevalence

“…In accordance with our results, Perch et al., ​[47] and Gatei et al., ​[48] found that infection rates did not differ with gender distribution. However, some studies [49, 50, 51] showed variation with gender of statistical significance. Al Hindi et al., ​[49] found that the number of infected females was significantly higher than males, while, Park et al., ​[50] and Mumtaz et al., ​[51] declared higher prevalence rates in males.…”

“…However, some studies [49, 50, 51] showed variation with gender of statistical significance. Al Hindi et al., ​[49] found that the number of infected females was significantly higher than males, while, Park et al., ​[50] and Mumtaz et al., ​[51] declared higher prevalence rates in males.…”

Histopathological study of Enterobius vermicularis among appendicitis patients in Gaza strip, Palestine

“…Intestinal parasite incidence were reported by many studies in Gaza strip, including Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis and Strongyloides stercoralis (Shubair et al 2000;AlHindi 2002). The prevalence rate of intestinal parasites in Palestine was ranged from 27.6-32.3 % in Gaza strip, and 22.2 % in West Bank, the most common types were Giardia lamnblia and Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (Shtayeh et al 1989;Yassin et al 1999;Al-Hindi, 2009;Hussein 2011;Al-Hindi and Al-Louh, 2013). The prevalence of E. vermicularis among preschool children in nursery setting in Gaza strip reached to 46.3 % .…”

Molecular characterization of cryptosporidium in children aged 0- 5 years with diarrhea in Jos, Nigeria

“…Despite its wide distribution in the environment, there is very little awareness about this protozoan parasite and the poor laboratory techniques which are limited to direct smear in the local medical laboratories in hospitals and private laboratories in Jos could also have accounted for this low prevalence rate. Our study lower prevalence of 4.8% falls within the lower range of the 5-10% reported worldwide in the study by Vandenberg et al [ 27 ] and this may be attributed to our small sample size, and the differences in the age of our study population, environmental factors (water source, sanitary condition), study timing, children nutritional status, parents socioeconomic status, undiagnosed co-infection, microscopic methods amongst other risk factors, which we did not study [ 28 , 29 ].However, the disease transmission and other geographic features of Cryptosporidium infection among children in North-Central Nigeria are yet to be well investigated and this has contributed to paucity of data in population-based study. This study observed disproportionately high prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection among children aged 37-48 months (14.3%), and low (4.5%) in those aged 0-12 months.…”