ABSTRACT

An investigation was made of 4322 stool samples sent to the clinical microbiology laboratory during January 2002 to June 2003. Native-Lugol and modified acid-fast staining methods were used on all of the samples. In addition, the formol ethyl acetate technique was used on 40% and the cellophane tape method on 1248 samples. During the examination of the stool samples, diarrhea was detected in 1035 (23.94%) samples, leucocytes in 807 (18.64%) and erythrocytes in 520 (12.03%). Four hundred and sixty nine patients were infected with one or more parasites. The distribution of the parasites was as follows: 185 (39.44%) Blastocystis hominis, 112 (23.88%) Giardia intestinalis, 64 (13.64%) Entamoeba coli, 43 (9.16%) Entamoeba histolytica, 18 (3.48%) Iodomoeba bütschlii, 22 (4.69%) Endolimax nana, 5 (1.06%) Chilomastix mesnili, 2 (0.42%) Trichomonas intestinalis, 2 (0.42%) Cryptosporidium parvum, 1 (0.21%) Cyclospora cayetanensis, 1 (0.21%) Isospora belli, 6 (1.27%) Taenia saginata, 6 (1.27%) Hymenolepis nana, and 2 (0.42%) Ascaris lumbricoides. Enterobius vermicularis was found in 65 of the 1248 cellophane tape samples. Cyclospora cayetanensis was found in an immunocompetent patient. Isospora belli was found in one AIDS patient, Cryptosporidium parvum in 2 and Hymenolepis nana in 1. Thus, intestinal parasites were found in 4 (25%) out of 16 AIDS patients.