ABSTRACT

A retrospective evaluation of the data from 14,246 patients with gastrointestinal complaints who presented at the parasitology laboratory of the Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty Hospital between January 2005 and December 2008 was carried out. Fecal samples of all patients were examined using native‐Lugol and the trichrome and Kinyoun acid‐fast staining method after sedimentation in fecal concentration tubes. One or more parasites were detected in 1320 (9.3%) of the patients. The distribution of the intestinal parasites was as follows: Blastocystis hominis, 689 (4.83%); nonpathogenic amoebas, 108 (21.82%); Giardia intestinalis, 320 (2.24%); Enterobius vermicularis, 23 (0.16%); Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar, 34 (0.24%); and other rare parasites, 78 (0.54%). The results of this study emphasize the fact that intestinal parasitic infections are still an important public health problem.

Keywords: Intestinal parasites, diagnosis