ABSTRACT

In this study, patients (outpatients and in-patients) with various gastrointestinal system complaints presenting at various clinics of the Uludag University Medical Faculty, Bursa, from January 2001-December 2004 were investigated for intestinal parasites. The prevalence of intestinal parasites was evaluated according to age, gender and the months in which cases were seen. Saline and iodine preparations from 8,351 stool samples before and after formal-ethyl acetate concentration were examined under 100x and 400x magnification. Also, trichrome stained preparations in ambiguous cases and modified Erlich Ziehl Nielsen stained preparations for Cryptosporidium spp. were examined by oil-immersion lens (total magnification 1000x). One or more pathogenic parasites were found in 298 of the 8,381 stool samples. Enterobius vermicularis was detected in 227 of 3,758 cellophane tape preparations. The predominant parasite was E. vermicularis (prevalence of 1.56%), followed by Giardia intestinalis (1.03%) and Blastocystis hominis (0.96%). The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection rate was 4.27%. Of these, 40.4% were female and 59.6%, male. The results indicated that 94.9% of the subjects had one parasite and 5.1%, co-infection with two parasites. The rate of intestinal parasites in the 0-9 age group was higher than that of other groups. The incidence of parasitic diseases was lower in this study as compared to results previously reported in our hospital. Although different infection rates were found in these studies, there were no statistically significant differences in our study.