To determine the prevalence of various intestinal parasitic infections, we examined 966randomly collected stool specimens from urban areas and 569 such samples from the ruralregions. These were examined using formalin-ether sedimentation and direct smearmethods. From the total of 1535 specimens, 143 that belonged to 1-6 years old childrenwere examined by scatch tape method.The results indicated that 53.2% of the subjects were infected with intestinal protozoa andhelminths with the following prevalence rates:Entamoeba histolytica 9.6%, E. coli 16%, E.hartmanni 7%, Endolimax nana 2.6%,Iodomoeba biitschlii 1.8%, Dientamoeba fragilis 1.5%, Chi/omastix mesnili 0.4%), Giardialamblia 18.8%, Blastocysts hominis 16.5%, Dicrocoelium dendriticum 0.1%, Taeniasaginata 0.2%, Hymenolopis nana 1.4%, Ascaris lambricodies 0.3%, Enterobiusvermincularis (using scatch tape method) 0.7%, E.vermicularis (using formalin - ethermethod) 28.7%,Trichostrongylusspp.0.1%,Strongyhidessiercorials 0.3% and Trichuristrichiura 0.1%.Rural people were significantly more likely to bear helminthic infections than urbanresidents (4.9% versus 2.1%).E.histofytica wasmore prevalent among men (11% versus 7.1%) and, interestingly,age-specific infection rates for giardiasis and amebiasis showed contrasting patterns in thisstudy

Keywords: Intestinal parasites, Islamshahr, Iran

Full-Text [PDF 558 kb]   (2245 Downloads)