ABSTRACT

Nosocomial infections are threatening patients all around the world and intestinal parasites constitute a great risk due to their easily contagious features. However, studies related to nosocomial infections concerning intestinal parasites, are inadequate in the literature. This study was aimed at investigation of the incidence of nosocomial intestinal parasitoses in 94 hospitalized patients in the Manisa Government Hospital Intensive Care Unit of the Hematology and Chest Disease Clinics, between December 2002 and June 2003. Cellophane tape swabs and wet mounts, Lugol, formalin ethyl acetate concentration, trichrome staining and Kinyoun acid-fast staining were used in investigation of the stool samples of all the patients. Only one or two parasitological examinations of 70 (74.5%) patients were made before their discharge from the hospital and intestinal parasites were detected in 22 (23.4%) patients. Of 24 (25.5%) other patients who were investigated for 3 to 5 weeks, only 3 patients were found to be positive for intestinal parasites during the 1st examination. Among the 21 (22.3%) negative patients, 8 (33.3%) of them acquired intestinal parasites during their stay in hospital. These results suggest that nosocomial infections with intestinal parasites should not be ignored and more investigations should be planned in order to provide more data on this subject.