Intestinal Parasitic Infections in Chronic Psychiatric Patients in Sina Hospital Shahre-Kord, Iran

Abstract

Background: Although the number of infectious diseases has sharply decreased in last few decades, parasitic diseases persist in developing countries. On the other hand, chronic psychiatric patients tend to have low self-control, poor personal hygiene, long term institutionalization and extremely low self-care should be monitored for parasitic diseases since psychosocial conditions can contribute to an affinity for infectious diseases..Objectives: The aim of study was to investigate intestinal parasites in chronic psychiatric patients..Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all chronic psychiatric patients from Sina Hospital of Shahre-Kord University of Medical Sciences were recruited from April to November 2010. From each patient, 3 stool samples were collected every other day. Samples were transferred to Department of Parasitology of Faculty of Medicine and were examined by wet direct smear, Ziehl-Neelsen and Rayan blue trichrome stains. Direct smear was examined microscopically by performing a standard direct smear using normal saline (0.85%) and Iodine solution (Lugol). Stools were stained by Ziehl-Neelsen and Rayan blue trichrome in order to investigate Cryptosporidium and Microsporidia respectively..Results: Forty-seven patients (72%) were male and 18 (28%) were female.The minimum time of institution was 2 months and the longest period of incarceration was 152 months. The mean of hospitalization duration was 94.7 months. Forty-four cases (68%) of participants were infected with intestinal parasites.The most frequent parasites were Blastocystis hominis in 15 cases (23%) followed by Microsporidia in 12 cases (18.5%), Giardia lamblia in 7 cases (11%), Isospora in 5 cases (8%) and Cryptosporidium in 4 cases (6.2%), respectively.Conclusions: Opportunistic protozoan parasites such as Microsporidia, Isospora and Cryptosporidium should be considered as a potential pathogen in this setting and more health care should be given to this specific group

Some Intestinal Parasites and Psychiatric Diseases: Is There a Possible Link?

“…In the present study, nine different parasites were identified six protozoa (B. hominis, C. parvum, Entameba histolytica/dispar, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Giardia intestinalis, & E. coli) and three worms (Ascaris lumbricoides, Hymenolepis nana, Entrobius vermicularis). but, the helminthes prevalence among psychiatric patients (2.3%) was much lower than previous reports from Iran (Mohammadi-Meskin et al, 2019), Nigeria (Eze et al, 2019;Otu-Bassey et al, 2019) and Tanzania (Nyundo et al, 2017), it was in accordance with the fact that in general, among chronic psychiatric patients in Sina Hospital Shahre-Kord, Iran (Khalili et al, 2013). Moreover, Sargent (1983) in USA reported T. trichiura, Ascaris lumbricoides, Giardia lamblia, and Entamoeba histolytica and added that annual examination and treatment could control parasitosis; but, complete eradication might require examination following home visits by the resident population.…”

“…Psychiatric disorders are a group of disorders characterized by combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and relationships with others (Khalili et al, 2013). Globally, psychiatric disorders rank the 3 rd most common disease, just after cancer and cardiovascular diseases (WHO, 2017), it was estimated that more than 25% of individuals; especially in developing countries develop one or more mental or behavioral disorders in their lifetime (Daré et al, 2019).…”

Intestinal Parasitic Infections among Patients of Psychiatric Hospital Rumuigbo, Rivers State, Nigeria

“…This was higher than 8.5% reported among the mentally retarded in Egypt [15], 29.5% reported among Institutionalized Mentally Disabled Individuals in Rasht, Northern Iran [7], 13.5% among patients of a Ghanaian psychiatry hospital [5] and 20.4% reported among mentally disabled children and adults of Urmia, Iran [16]. But lower than 43.5% was reported among mentally disabled individuals in Alexandria, Egypt [8], 68% was reported in chronic psychiatric patients in Sina Hospital Shahre-Kord, Iran [17]. Reasons for variation may be Location, sanitation, hygiene.…”

Distribution of Blastocystis subtypes isolated from humans from an urban community in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…Overall, many human settlements are characterized by poor hygiene habits, extensive interpersonal contact and increased dependency on care, which provide favorable conditions for the circulation and transmission of parasites and increased susceptibility to parasitic infections. This was revealed by reports of enteric parasitic infections in mental institutions, which indicate that rates of intestinal parasitic infections are higher among institutionalized persons than in the general population, even in developed countries [ 94 ]. It should be noted that we analyzed unpreserved stool samples from non-selected adults and identified Blastocystis in 46% of family members, compared to a lower figure of 32.5% among institutionalized patients.…”