Intestinal parasitic infection in adult patients attending tertiary care hospitals: a retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections (IPI) are recognized as neglected tropical diseases. Inadequacy of epidemiological data reporting the prevalence of intestinal parasites among the general population prompted this retrospective study conducted among the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology of two medical colleges.Methods: All the symptomatic patients were examined for IPI. 831 parasite positive stool samples were included for the study. The age range of the patients were above 18 years. Stool specimens were processed using formol-ether concentration technique. Routine microscopic examination (saline and Lugol’s iodine mounts) were carried out for ova, cysts or parasites. The sample was partly preserved in 10% formal saline and later concentrated and fixed with methanol before staining by modified Ziehl Neelsen stain. Results: Out of the 831 positive samples, E. histolytica was predominant with 337 (40.55%) of all cases. The next in order were Giarrdia lamblia 216 (25.99%), A. lumbricoides with 173 (20.81%), E. vermicularis with 43 (5.17%), A. duodenale with 23 (2.76%), H. nana with 19 (2.28%), S. stercoralis with 17 (2.04%) and Taenia with 3 (0.36%). 134 patients had double parasites isolated, while only 3 had triple parasitic infestation.Conclusion: Present study showed a preponderance in gender towards males (59.4%) than females (40.5%). Larger sample size and more surveillance studies will help to establish effective measures and evidence-based approaches to curb the parasitic proliferation in this region.